Mass Effect: GHOSTs
by VR Commando ATA
Summary: Sequel to Mass Effect Johnson. Centered on the newest ONI Spec Ops group, the GHOSTs. The best of the best of the best that humanity has to offer, they have the best tech, the best armor, and the best weapons, they use them all in their missions to defend humanity and its allies. the GHOSTs will show the galaxies why the Reapers and Flood aren't the only things to fear. Sequel's up
1. The GHOSTs

**Me: Here it is, the first chapter of the sequel to Mass Effect: Johnson.**

**Trin: Before anyone asks, it is not centered on Johnson.**

**Helix [Remember her?]: It's centered on my GHOSTs.**

**Me: People who have played Fuse will recognize a few things. I own nothing, now on with the story!**

"Talking."

"_Thinking."_

"[Electronic communication.]"

{AI_intercommunication}

**The GHOSTs**

[**Nova Galaxy, Orbit over Batarian Pirate controlled planet, UNSC Prowler 'Reaper':**]

"[This is Dalton. Everyone online?]" the team leader of the GHOST fire team 'Overstrike' asked.

"[Angel team reporting in,]" the team leader of GHOST team Angel, Captain Angelica Valence, said.

"Captain Brooks, I suggest you try to remember you're only in charge of your squad. And I am still in charge of them also," Helix said to Brooks.

"[Understood Colonel. Brooks out,]" Dalton said as the drop pod's timer hit zero.

Helix's pod launched out first as the remaining eleven GHOSTs launched shortly after. Helix double checked that her three weapons, the GHOST X1AR 'Savager,' the GHOST X2AR 'Daybreaker,' and two GHOST X1P 'Guardians,' were still secured in their holders. She looked back at her hand again and observed the armor covering it. It no longer looked like the standard ODST gear. It now had its own look, sort of.

The members of GHOST had decided that they needed armor that looked different from everyone else's. So ONI brought in multiple armor manufacturers from Nova Earth and Terra Earth. Only one had been accepted by the GHOSTs. A new addition to the military equipment manufacturing industry, named CORTech. The armor design they gave looked light weight and flexible, yet able to take a hell of a beating. The colors were black and orange, and the helmets left the wearers hair out, yet could be covered if desired. The GHOSTs thought this diminished the armor's survivability in any compromised atmosphere, yet it was proven by the armor's maker that it could also be used that way in space. They had instantly fallen in love with the armor's look and how it worked. Though CORTech still makes more of that armor for the market, the GHOST version of the armor is by far superior since it utilizes Precursor tech. **[For a better description, look up Fuse Prototype skins. Its one of the team's alternate armors.]**

"[I still love the look the CORTech representative had on his face when we altered ourselves to match the armor they brought,]" Diana said within Kim's mind.

"Not something I'll ever forget…if I even could," Dawson said in reply.

"[Hey boss, AA fire. Should we ditch the pods?]" Valence asked.

"Go ahead, but make sure to land at the DZ still," Helix replied as she attached her weapons to their spots on her armor and activated the pods 'Mid-air Deployment' program, or as Brooks named it, the 'Shitter Mode.'

The bottom of the pod peeled away and dropped Helix into the air before closing again. Helix slowed her decent by spreading her arms and legs out and looked behind her to see the rest of the GHOSTs doing the same. She looked forward again to see the ground only a few meters away. A quick flip and she landed on her feet. She heard a large thud and turned around to see the newest GHOST, Sergeant Andrew Malovic, having face-planted into the dirt. He pulled himself out of the small crater he made and checked on his weapons, a GHOST X1S 'Prowler,' a GHOST X1SMG 'Dragonfly,' and one of the four weapons only used by, and only given to, GHOSTs, the XL1 Warp Rifle.

"Da, they are still good," Malovic said happily.

"It'll take more than that to break UNSC tech," Sergeant 1st Class Naya Deveraux of Overstrike team, said.

"Back to the mission people," Helix said as she grabbed her weapons and led her team, Hell Spawn, and the others towards the objective.

Other than herself, each member of the GHOSTs carried an XL weapon. One member on her team carried two in order to cover for her. Said person suddenly stopped and flashed red twice on his HUD before having a blue arrow pointing left appear on everyone's HUDs. Helix looked at Lieutenant Sean Vasquez of her team, Naya, and Malovic before nodding. Each of them nodded back before activating their cloaks and disappearing. Dawson had everyone stop and double check their weapons. In the middle of them doing that, three green flashes appeared on Helix's HUD, a minute after that, everyone was holstering their weapons, and the three scouts had returned.

"How was it?" Helix asked them.

"We proved why we're called GHOSTs," Sean said.

"Yeah, he didn't find out what killed him," Naya said.

"Good, lets move out," Helix called to everyone as they continued towards the supposed Batarian THOR manufacturing facility.

ONI had gotten word that one of the UNSC's manufacturing facilities had been raided by Batarian pirates. Being one of the further out facilities, it didn't have the usual amount of protection. Add that to the fact that there had also been a Cerberus raid at the same time and it makes sense that the Pirates had managed to get away with a few schematics.

UNSC Brass wanted to send in SPARTANs, THORs, or ODSTs to get them back. ONI Command saw this as the perfect chance to test out the GHOSTs. This was their first real mission as GHOSTs, and they had no intel at all, didn't know the land, and weren't going to be given reinforcements or supply drops. All they were able to bring was their armor, weapons, and a few mags for each weapon. Their objective was to find and destroy all copies of the schematics and any prototypes they might have created.

The planet they were on was technically uninhabited, but that didn't mean no one was there. The Batarians they were hunting for called this place home. Helix led the GHOSTs to a small cliff and looked over before smiling beneath her helmet. The Pirate's base was below them, and had little security. Diana made the visor zoom in and Helix saw an easily reachable way inside. She marked it with a gold waypoint before zooming back out and getting the GHOSTs moving again.

"[Coms only from here on out,]" Helix said through the GHOSTs secured com-link.

Her voice could no longer be heard by anything that wasn't wearing Precursor armor with their coms, and neither could anyone else's. All of her GHOSTs flashed green and they began their decent down the cliff. One member of Dalton's team, Sergeant Isabelle 'Izzy' Sinclair, looked around to see if there was a quicker way and spotted none. She shrugged before climbing down after the others. They got to the ground and readied their weapons. The GHOSTs made their way towards the compound and managed to get there without being spotted. The last member of team Overstrike, Sergeant Major Jacob Kimble, raised Naya to the vent above them and held her there while she got the vent cover off. Ten seconds later she handed it to Dalton and climbed in as he leaned it against the side of the building. He climbed in as Izzy set it to where it looked like it just fell off. The rest of the GHOSTs climbed in one after another Helix waited until everyone was in before looking around and climbing in. Just as she got out of sight, a Batarian patrol came to the vent. One of them sighed as he lifted up the cover and began working on getting it back into place.

Helix dropped out of the vent to find the others standing inside a factory repurposed for THOR construction. They looked at her and nodded before placing charges everywhere. Helix and her team started heading towards a room over looking the factory floor. They went inside and found a Batarian asleep at the console. Lieutenant Adriana Houser walked over and tapped his shoulder. The alien woke up slowly and looked at the commandos in front of him. A second later, he realized they weren't Batarians and reached for the alarm. Before he could, Adriana grabbed his wrist and elbow and broke its arm at the elbow. The Batarian screamed in pain just as Adriana grabbed its head and slammed the alien to the ground before curb stomping its head.

"[Remind me not to get on your bad side Adriana,]" another member of Hell Spawn, Captain Victor Garret, said.

"[Draco, check for the data,]" Adriana said as the screen in front of them turned on.

"[Done, I deleted all digital copies they made, and I have located the hard copy. The container at the corpse's feet holds the stolen documents,]" Draco said.

Helix picked it up and opened the container. She set it back down and pulled out a container of liquefied magnesium. She poured it into the container before lighting a match and dropping it in. The documents disappeared in a burst of flame.

"[All GHOSTs, we have a vehicle coming in. I think its time to leave boss, we need someone to spread around what the GHOSTs can do,]" Kimble said as he looked through the scope of his XL4 'Arcshot.'

"[Understood. Are all explosives set?]" Helix asked everyone.

"[Almost…there, done,]" Brooks said as he set up the last charge.

"Alright people, time to bug-…]"

"[CONTACT!]" Helix heard Malovic shout before his Warp Rifle started firing.

"[Angel team, help him out,]" Helix heard Angelica shout to the rest of her team.

"GHOSTs, make this as noticeable as possible for the incoming vehicle," Helix said.

"[You want him or her to stop and see what's going on?]" Sinclair asked.

"Right."

"[On it,]" Izzy said before Helix heard the sound of a GHOST X1SR 'Harbinger' firing. "[Driver is down, the guy is getting out, along with some guards. Hold on, they're trying to get the corpse out so they can leave…now it doesn't matter if they do or don't,]" Izzy said as she destroyed the vehicles engine with a few well place shots.

"[Want us to take out the guards?]" Kimble asked as he readied his Arcshot.

"Do it," Helix replied.

"[Working,]" Kimble said s he fired three bolts and hit each guard.

Helix switched her visor to see what Kimble saw and watched as the Batarians looked at each other, not sure what just happened, before Jacob activated the bolts. The Batarians instantly burst into flame as the augmented liquid mercury inside the bolts was set on fire. The three aliens died screaming from the looks of it as they tried in vain to put out the flames before they died. The main alien attempted to get back into the vehicle, but was stopped as it suddenly became covered in some sort of crystal substance. Helix smiled as she recognized the work of an XL2 'Shattergun.' She switched back to what she was seeing as her team started to leave the room.

"[We got a runner,]" a member of Angel squad said over the coms, "[want us to take him out?]"

"No let, him get to the other Batarian," Helix answered.

"[You sure?]"

"Yes, the other one doesn't know what happened in here, and he's only a pig waiting for the slaughter."

"[Got it,]" the GHOST replied before everyone began to regroup at the rally point.

Once they got there, Izzy and Jacob went back to watching the Batarian that had come here. They saw the two Batarians meet up. Sinclair and Kimble watched as the first Batarian told the second about what happened in the compound. When it looked like the story was over, Izzy and Jacob began firing their weapons. Jacob's bolt hit and stuck into the second Batarian before Izzy's multiple Shattergun rounds crystalized him. Jacob then detonated the bolt and caused the Batarian to shatter into flaming crystal pieces. The other one began reeling backwards before turning around and running. Jacob smiled as he and Izzy got up before flashing Helix a thumbs up. Colonel Kim 'Helix' Dawson smiled beneath her helmet as she activated the explosives inside the factory. The compound disappeared in a mushroom cloud of high explosive and napalm.

The GHOSTs left the single Batarian survivor to run away in fear of the invincible humans with devastating weaponry that had called themselves GHOSTs.

**Me: Short and sweet, how a first chapter should be.**

**Trin: I'm not so sure that qualifies as 'sweet.'**

**Me: Ok you have a point. Onto the new version of the codex entries.**

{Warning_accessing_classified_intel_without_authorization_will_result_in_your_termination…Welcome_Dr._Halsey._Opening_classified_intel}

June 8, 2565: ONI GHOSTs stop construction of Batarian THORs. Mission is complete success and the galaxies now know a fraction of what the GHOSTs are capable of.

GHOST Weaponry:

X Weapons Family:

X1P/Guardian- The GHOST program's primary sidearm and its only pistol. It holds 15 high power rounds per mag and has a scope and laser sight attachment. A reliable weapon that can be trusted to defend you and kill anything you shoot at with it if you run out of ammo for your other weapons. It fires as fast as you can pull the trigger.

X1SMG/Dragonfly- The GHOST program's secondary sidearm and its only SMG. It is able to hold a maximum of 106 rounds per mag and has a scope attachment. A reliable weapon and capable of sustaining an acceptable amount of covering fire. Note that the weapon may be powerful and have a high RoF, but it is inaccurate and only as powerful as an MA5D.

X1AR/Savager- The GHOST program's primary assault rifle. The Savager is a devastating weapon that is able to hold 104 rounds per mag. It is as accurate as an MA5D and as powerful as a BR85.

X2AR/Daybreaker- The GHOST program's secondary assault rifle. The Daybreaker is a powerful six round burst weapon that is as powerful and accurate as a DMR. It has a scope and laser sight and holds 66 rounds per mag.

X1S/Prowler- The GHOST program's only shotgun. The Prowler is an extremely powerful close range weapon that has a laser sight and holds 12 shells per cartridge. Though it is pump action, it is able to be fired as fast as a UNSC DMR. It is as powerful as a UNSC MA45 and has the Scattershot's rebound ability.

X1SR/Harbinger- The GHOST program's only sniper rifle. The Harbinger is a death dealer at both close and mid range with its higher ammo cap than any other UNSC sniper. It holds 10 rounds per mag and has a zoom scope. Though it is only as powerful as the standard UNSC sniper, each shot is able to be magnetically charged by holding down the trigger. Once it is fully charged, a shot is as powerful as a Gauss turret's shot.

XL Weapon Family:

XL1/Warp Rifle- In layman's terms, a rifle that fires weaponized biotics. The rifle fires warp rounds that, after a target has been hit by them enough, create a singularity. Targets can be painted with the rifle by hitting them five times. Once a target has been painted, create a singularity on another target to create a singularity chain blast, or warpchain. Combine fire with other XL weaponry to create even more devastating effects. Mag holds 250 rounds.

XL2/Shattershot- An energy weapon that, once a target has been hit enough, incases its target in crystal. The target can then be shattered by hitting it or shooting it more. It rifle also has a secondary fire that heals allies. Combine its primary fire with other XL weapons to create even more devastating effects. Mag holds 300 shots.

XL3/Magshield- Though its primary function is mobile cover, it is able to be used as a weapon as it can catch and 'fire back' anything that hits it. It is also able to send out short range energy blasts in the direction it is pointed at. These blasts disintegrate anything in front of it unless it belongs to allied troops or is an allied troop. The Magshield is also able to drop up to five other shields that are immobile. Shields can be deactivated by pressing the button on the right side of the 'barrel.' Shields can be shot through by allies without damaging the shield or rounds. Accelerates any XL weapon rounds that are fired through it. Mag holds five deployable shields and one handheld shield.

XL4/Arcshot- This rifle resembles a crossbow in shape. It fires bolts containing augmented mercury that is able to be lit on fire, creating an explosion similar to a fire bomb going off. The bolts can be fired into anything and can bee auto detonated by firing several more shots into the target or be manually detonated by pressing a button on the weapon's side. Combine fire with other XL weapons to create even more devastating effects. Mag holds 100 bolts.


	2. Bad Dog

**Me: Second chapter for Mass Effect: GHOSTs. Still have no clue how this got into the 'Alternate First Contact' community, but whatever.**

**Trin: So there will be THOR fights right?**

**Me: Only against Cerberus, but yeah there will be THOR fights sis. On with the story!**

**Helix: Disclaimer?**

**Me: If I owned this shit I wouldn't be on fanfiction.**

"Talking."

"_Thinking."_

"[Electronic communication.]"

{AI intercommunication}

**Bad Dog**

[**Nova Galaxy, 'Uninhabited' Sector, Cerberus base:**]

"Hey Jake," a Cerberus trooper asked another.

"What," the other replied.

"You ever-…"

"Tom if you say 'wonder why we're here,' I will kill you."

"I was gonna say feel like you're being watched."

"Oh…well then yeah sometimes."

"I know its like-…," the first trooper suddenly stopped.

"Um…Tom?" the other trooper asked as he turned to face where his friend was.

Instead he found an empty space in front of the boxes they were standing by. He raised his weapon and spun around several times looking for something. He moved to the center of the boxes and continued to look for his buddy.

"Tom if you're-…," the trooper never got to finish that sentence as he was pulled back behind the boxes and his neck snapped. His corpse was dropped by Tom's corpse.

"This is Spawn 1, area is clear," Helix said through the GHOSTs secure com channel.

"[This is Strike 1, we're clear here,]" Brooks said over the coms.

"[Angel 1 to all, we're clear,]" Valence said over the coms.

"Spawn 1 to all GHOSTs, begin mission," Helix said as she readied her pistols.

This was the GHOSTs final mission for all 12 of them to be there at once. After this it would be the teams on their own ops. She and the rest of her squad moved up to the next line of cover and hid before checking for any other guards and patrols. Helix was about to have them move up again when Dalton came over the com link.

"[Strike to all GHOSTs, HVT sighted. Designate ML, repeat Level 1 target ML sighted,]" he said quickly.

Level 1 target was the second highest target level, Level 0 was the first and that was currently only held by TIM. There were three Level 1s, but ML was the only other Cerberus officer, Miranda Lawson. Helix smiled beneath her helmet as she could now prove another thing that the GHOSTs could do.

"Understood, all GHOSTs, get to Overstrike's location now!" Helix shouted over the coms as she and her team got up and started sprinting to Overstrike. "Overstrike, keep her there anyway you can."

"[On it,]" Izzy said as Helix heard an explosion. "[Her bird is down and I've locked down all but one door, and that is right behind us.]"

"[Angel right outside the door. Open her up Overstrike.]"

"[…Yeah that's you, opening the door.]"

Helix rounded a corner to see Angel team run through a door as Izzy leaned against it. Sinclair spotted her and waved her over. Hell Spawn team ran through the door as multiple Cerberus Troopers came around another corner. Helix looked at Izzy who flashed five fingers at her.

"We got five minutes before those troopers get through," Helix shouted at the GHOSTs as they killed Lawson's guards.

"Alright Ms. Lawson, time to come with the nice men and women in the Black and orange armor," Kimble said as he walked up to her with cuffs in his hand.

"You really don't know who I am, do you?" Miranda said as she threw a warp at Kimble.

Kimble only managed to say shit before the blast hit him and he was sent flying. Miranda smiled at how she just killed one of the 'invincible GHOSTs.' Her smile disappeared as Kimble got up from the small pile of rubble she sent him into. She threw multiple warps at the GHOSTs who began firing their weapons at or around her. Naya hit a small Ezzo container near Miranda. Naya smiled beneath her helmet as the container started to create a singularity. Lawson was pulled backwards as the singularity formed. She was then thrown forward by its destruction and explosion. She tried to get up and was stopped by a Guardian being put to the back of her head.

"By, by," the GHOST above her said.

"Wait!" Helix shouted, "We need her alive…for now."

The GHOST above Lawson grunted once before removing the gun from her head. She was about to throw another warp when she saw another GHOST above her.

"Night, night," the red haired GHOST said before she slammed the butt of her rifle into the Cerberus officer's face.

Miranda slumped to the ground as a bruise began to form on her forehead. Izzy holstered her weapon and walked back to Overstrike team. Helix nodded to her before looking towards the doors. The Cerberus troopers were already starting to cut through them. Helix looked at Angel squad and decided the best option would be to have a team stay here to transport Lawson.

"Angel team, stay here, HVT is now HVI until we are off planet," Helix said.

"Worst case scenario orders?" Malovic asked.

"Worst comes to worst, put a bullet in her brain."

"Yes ma'am," the GHOSTs said before hauling Lawson onto her disabled ship.

"Overstrike, kill anything that ain't UNSC or the HVI, we'll handle the main objective," Helix ordered Brooks.

"Understood Colonel," Brooks said as he lead Overstrike through an open vent.

Helix led her team to the door and had them get into breach position. She then place three breach charges on the door and backed up a couple of steps. She smiled as the cutting torch the Cerberus troopers were using hit the charges. Before anyone could blink, the charges detonated, killing several of the Cerberus troopers and knocking the rest on their asses. Before they could even try to get up, Hell Spawn shot them through the head.

Helix then had the team move forward. In the center of the facility they ere at was an unknown object that was sending off cryopod signals. Their main objective was to capture the object and find out what it was. Helix went to cover at a corner and turned her head to look down the hall. She saw several troopers transporting a black coffin like box. Diana activated the scanner in Kim's suit and showed that that box was their objective.

"No way we could be this lucky without-…," Helix tried to say.

"Hey, those four GHOSTs are heading this way, we need to move faster," a random trooper that had run up to the others said.

Helix nodded to her team as they started firing at the Cerberus troopers. They fell under the combined fire of the GHOSTs standard weapons. Once the troopers were dead, Helix holstered her weapons and walked up to the pod. She placed her hand on it and Diana started working on getting the pod open. She stepped back as the pod began to open. Inside was a frozen alien that reminded her of the description of Collectors. It began thawing as Helix's helmet peeled away to reveal her face. The Alien suddenly gasped and shot straight up before throwing a green warp at Helix. She leaned left and raised an eyebrow at the alien as it feel to its knees.

"Hey, you ok," Helix asked it. "We didn't come all this way for you to die on us now."

"Though he could and we would still have something to cover the failure of the first objective," Adriana said from behind Kim.

"Shut up Lieutenant," Helix said before turning back to the unknown alien.

"Humans," it said, "I'm surrounded by primitives."

"Anyone else having the sudden urge to shot the new alien," Sean said from next to Adriana.

"Lieutenant!"

"Sorry Colonel," Sean said as the alien got to its feet.

"How many others?" the alien asked.

"If there are any, then we don't know about them. Now back to the primitives comment, is that your species' version of a cryopod?"

"Yes."

"Ours don't require an outside power source and can be used for millions of years with no ill effects on the user. Now show me your weapons."

"Why would I bring those with me into a cryopod?"

"So you can't do that either?"

"Having better cryo technology does not make one no longer a primitive."

"What about weapons, FTL travel, armor, and AIs?"

"You use AIs!?"

"[Great, another technophobic race,]" Diana said over Kim's helmets speakers.

"Yeah, that would be Diana, my personal AI," Dawson said as she crossed her arms.

"Do you have any idea what you are doing!?" the alien said.

"You have a lot to learn…um…what's your name?"

"Javik, last of the Protheans," the alien replied as he also crossed his arms.

* * *

"Dalton I blame you for this," Naya said, unknowingly in French.

"Um, English Naya," Izzy said as she fired her Shattergun at another group of Cerberus soldiers.

They were instantly incased within crystal and a few shots from Naya's Warp Rifle caused singularity explosions that atomized the crystalized troopers.

"Sorry, I said I blame you for this Dalton," Naya said in English.

"Complaint noted, now keep firing Sergeant Deveraux," Brooks said as he caught several grenades in his Magshield.

He smiled under his helmet as he launched them back at the original throwers. The Cerberus troopers tried to run, but were caught in the explosions of their own grenades. He then turned and fired a Magshield blast at a group of Cerberus soldiers that were attempting to flank them. The blast disintegrated everything it hit, turning the walls and floor where the troopers had been from grey to red.

"We're gonna need a mop," Dalton said as he deactivated the Magshield and pulled out his shotgun.

He fired twice and killed two Cerberus soldiers. Naya readied her Warp Rifle and began firing at troopers attempting to flank them. She held the trigger down until the troopers before her began exploding. She smiled beneath her helmet and turned back to see a Cerberus Atlas mech charging at them. The Overstrike GHOSTs looked at each other before charging at the mech. Izzy fired her Shattergun into its legs and managed to immobilize it. It tried to swing at her, but she rolled backwards behind Dalton. Jacob fired several bolts into the mech from behind Dalton's Magshield and detonated the bolts. As the mech began to burn, Naya fired her Warp Rifle at the cockpit. The glass almost instantly shattered and the warp rounds hit the pilot. A few more shots and the singularity was formed.

"Think we got them all?" Izzy asked as the team looked around.

Dalton was about to reply when the ground started to shake. Before he could question what was going on, Hell Spawn team ran up to them with a new alien at the heels. He looked straight at Helix he pointed in the direction of Angel team. Dalton nodded as all of them ran towards the hanger. They got to the hanger to find Angel team and Lawson gone, but a data packet where they had been. It read 'had to run, hanger D5.'

Helix instantly had the GHOSTs head to there, and hoped that the shaking wasn't what she thought it was.

The GHOSTs got to the hanger and found that Angel team was restraining Miranda inside a transport shuttle. Lawson herself was still KOed. Helix looked around and found a control panel for the hanger's doors. She ran over to it and pressed the button. Kim then watched the doors start to open and was about to sigh in relief when a giant metal hand ripped the doors off. She instantly started firing her weapons at the HOUND mech. It looked down at them and one of its guns began to move. Before it could a singularity formed around it and exploded. The THOR knock-off backed up and looked at the now destroyed weapon. The GHOSTs instantly started firing all of their XL weaponry at the giant mech.

Helix ordered the scouts to focus fire on one area and for the heavies to cover them. The marksmen and medics would shot everywhere and try to do as much damage as they could, or at the very least, temporarily immobilize parts of the HOUND. Multiple Arcshot bolts hit the HOUND before being detonated simultaneously. The augmented mercury spread across the mech and continuously damaged it as multiple Shattergun hits crystalized the lower part of its left arm. The marksmen and scouts instantly switched targets and destroyed the crystal arm. Before they could do anything else, the HOUND tried to smash them into the ground with its only remaining hand. Helix wasn't sure if they could survive that and ordered the GHOSTs to scatter. As they ran, the GHOSTs continued to fire, this time aiming for the right leg of the HOUND. As it got up and reach behind it, its leg became crystalized. The marksmen detonated the bolts that were now under the crystal surface and caused the leg to be completely shattered.

The HOUND fell to the ground as it lost its balance. It tried to lift itself up with its good arm, only to have that also become crystalized. This time it was shattered by Warp Rifle shots. The mech fell onto its face as Helix, Dalton, and Valence climbed onto its head. Just as the got the door open, the HOUND managed to rise to its knees and fire turrets connected to its hands at the GHOSTs still on the ground. Helix held onto the mech with one hand and grabbed Angie's arm with the other. Kim groaned as she threw the GHOST into the head of the HOUND mech. She reached up to grab onto the mech with both hands, but slipped and began to fall. Before she got too far, she was caught by a quick grab from Valence. The GHOST pulled her into the mech and sealed the door behind them. Helix thanked her and pulled out both of her Guardians. They then walked up to the pilot, who was trying to control the severly damaged HOUND mech. He stopped moving when he felt the barrel of a pistol placed against the back of his head.

"Any last words?" Angie asked from behind Helix.

"You UNSC soldiers are on the wrong side of this war," the trooper said.

"No we aren't, you are," Helix said to the trooper. "Now play dead," she said as she pulled the trigger of her gun. The gun fired and painted the spot in front of the trooper red. "Good boy," Helix said as she holstered her pistols.

She looked back at Valence who nodded at her. Both of them then climbed out of the mech to see the shuttle landing in front of them.

The two GHOSTs climbed in to find the rest of the GHOSTs and the Prothean already inside. They also saw that Lawson was awake again and screaming at them all.

"You will all regret this dearly, do you understand me? I will get out of here and when I do-…" Lawson was interrupted by a punch to the face that gave her a black eye, but didn't knock her out.

"Can we please just shoot her Colonel?" Valence asked as her helmet peeled back and she rubbed her temples.

"Not yet, we need to confirm it's her first."

"Fine, but after that I'm fucking shooting the bitch," Valence said.

"You'll have to get in line," Naya said as she readied her Guardian.

Izzy walked over to the Cerberus officer and activated her suit's bio-scanner. After two seconds she turned to the other GHOSTs with her helmet peeled back. She had a smile on her face as she flashed them a thumbs-up.

"Pay raises all around," Izzy said as she turned back to Lawson with her Guardian pulled out.

She made Miranda rise to her feet before pointing the pistol at the woman's knees and pulling the trigger. Lawson fell to the floor and attempted to get back up. Izzy turned back around and held the pistol out to the next person. Valence instantly took it from her and shot Lawson in the elbows. Dalton walked up to the Cerberus officer and kicked her several times in the stomach and face. Helix took the Guardian after that and grabbed Miranda's hair with her open hand. She yanked the woman's head up so she could face her. Lawson spat blood onto Kim's helmet and glared at her. Helix peeled back her helmet and smiled before shoving the gun into Miranda's mouth. Miranda only had time to switch her glare to shock and fear before her brains were splattered against the wall behind her. Kim got up and wiped the blood from her face before looking back at the GHOSTs.

"When we get back to Sydney, I'm buying all of you drinks," Helix said before remembering that all of Angel squad was originally Alliance N7s. "I mean my Earth's Sydney, Australia."

"Oh," Valence said before turning back to her team. "Next stop, the Terra Galaxy people, time for us to finally see what the UNSC's Earth looks like." **[For the record, I never said that they've been to the UNSC's Earth.]**

"_This should be interesting for them,"_ Kim thought.

{I think it will be a good experience for them,} Diana replied.

"_Agreed. They should get to know how the ODSTs handle post mission R&R."_

{This is not going to end well for them is it,} Diana said jokingly.

"_Why Diana, I have no idea what you mean,"_ Helix said sarcastically and jokingly as they docked onto their ship. Once the GHOSTs and Prothean were aboard, the UNSC Prowler Class vessel launched into slipspace, heading towards the portal in the Draco system.

[**Terra Galaxy; Sol System; Sydney, Australia:**]

"…And that ends my report Dr. Halsey," Helix said to the director of ONI.

"So you managed to take down a low level THOR…with hand held weaponry…and no support from anyone else…in less than ten minutes?" Halsey asked, her face not showing any emotion, but both Kim and Diana could tell that that little detail was hard for the Doctor to maintain.

"[Actually it took 15 minutes and 27 seconds for them to take down the HOUND,]" Diana said.

"…I thought it would be faster," Halsey said as she began showing emotion again.

"We probably could have done it faster, but we had two HVIs, one of which _we_ needed to kill, that we had to protect with us," Helix said.

"I have no doubt about that. I asked that you all be given two weeks of shore leave, enjoy it," Halsey said as she got up from her seat and went to the door.

"Thank you ma'am." Helix said as she also left. She then started heading out to where the other GHOSTs were.

* * *

"You don't look ok," Adriana Houser said to the Angel team member Donavan 'Donnie' Fulson.

"I'm…completely…fine," the former N7 said.

The former ODST looked at him questioningly as he ordered another beer. The bartender raised an eyebrow at him and then looked at her. Adriana mouthed 'Nova' and the bartender nodded in understanding. Several instances have already created the stereotype that Humans from the Nova Galaxy couldn't handle alcohol as well as Humans from the Terra Galaxy. The other N7 GHOSTs had already stopped drinking, knowing that they had reached their limit. Donnie on the other hand, kept going even after it was just the UNSC GHOSTs.

"Hey, is your buddy gonna be ok…wait…Adriana?" someone asked from behind her.

Adriana turned around to see a man in his mid thirties with dark blue eyes and a large scar on the right half of his face. He was also a member of Adriana's former unit and someone she had known since they were kids.

"Hector!" she said as she hugged her best friend. "How've you been?"

"You know, getting shot at every other day," he replied with a smile after letting go of her.

"Ah, it builds character."

"True," Hector said as he sat down. "So how have you been, heard you got into some knew top secret unit."

"That I did, but I can't tell you more than that buddy."

"Damn, and I was thinking I could get you to leak a bit of intel at least."

"Yeah, that's what happens when you get the black suit."

"You didn't," Hector said in true shock.

"Yeah, yeah I did," Adriana replied while looking at the ground.

"I can't believe you joined ONI."

"They aren't as bad as they used to be."

"It's still ONI. Why the fuck would you join them!?"

"Put more of the…thing…the thing that goes in the…thing…for drinking," Donnie said next to them, breaking them from their argument.

"I don't think it's a good idea to give him more," Hector said after a bit.

"Has to learn some how…you still mad?" Adriana asked.

"Mad, I'm fucking furious…but I know you. You would only do this for the right reason…I just realized how cheesy that sounded."

"Some things never change do they Hector?"

"No they don't," Hector said as Donnie fell out of his chair, completely unconscious.

"Great, now I gotta lug his drunken ass back to the ship," Adriana said, a little annoyed.

"Need any help?" Hector asked.

"Really?"

"Hey, what are friends for?"

"Thanks buddy," Adriana said as they each took one of Donnie's arms and dragged him back to the Prowler.

* * *

"Read 'em and weep fellas," Dalton said to the other GHOSTs at the table.

They were playing cards and he had just thrown down a full house ten high.

"Sorry buddy, but I think you spoke to soon," Kimble said as he pointed to Izzy's held out hand.

She smiled as she revealed a royal flush. Dalton cursed as he handed the credit chit to Izzy.

"Hold one…I thought we agreed not to actually play for money until the Colonel and Houser got back?" an angel team member named Mike 'Sarge' Navern asked.

"It no fun without risk of lose," Andrew 'Andy' Malovic said.

"What the Russian said," Houser said as she and someone the others didn't recognize walked in, Donnie being carried between them. Angie looked up at the new guy then at Adriana and raised an eyebrow.

"Friend from my old unit, we've known each other since Pre-K," Adriana said.

Everyone went back to what they were doing at that and Adriana and the other guy laid Donnie on an empty cot. They were turning around as Kim walked in.

"Officer on deck!" Adriana's friend shouted and everyone dropped what they were doing and went to attention.

"At ease," Helix said before continuing onto into the room. "We now have two weeks of vacation, find a way to make the most of it."

"Permission to speak freely ma'am?" Brooks asked.

"Permission granted."

"HELL FUCKING YES!" Dalton shouted as he high fived Kimble. They didn't notice as Izzy swiped the money form the credit chits they had on them. Adriana smiled at her friend and Helix smiled at nothing. This was going to be a great two weeks.

**Me: Well that seemed like a good chapter to me.**

**Trin: No public execution of Miranda?**

**Me: If you are allowed to kill an HVT that is annoying as hell, and has biotics, would you wait for the execution?**

**Trin: Good point.**

**Helix: I sure as hell couldn't have waited any longer than that.**

**Me: Exactly. That's all for now VR Commando ATA out.**


	3. Project LOKI (part 1)

**Me: Here's chapter 3 of Mass Effect GHOSTs. A new OC made by ****General-X AKA Obsidian Actual**** is making an appearance in the next chapter.**

**Trin: How about some review responses?**

**Me: Alright then.**

**Deltahalo241-I am not done with the old OCs. They will appear later. Also, before anyone else asks, no more new OCs after General-X's. **

**paladin3030-GHOST doesn't stand for anything, I just came up with the name.**

**Lemanruss669-Thanks buddy.**

**MLPFan298-You'll get to see much more of what the GHOSTs can do.**

**Now that that's out of the way, on with the story!**

"Talking."

"_Thinking."_

"[Electronic communication.]"

{AI intercommunication}

**Project LOKI (part 1, Nightmares)**

[**Terra Galaxy; Sol System; Earth; Sydney, Australia:**]

"Alright, who the hell moved my beer?" Mike Navern, or Sarge, asked.

"Well you did say you were done with it," Sean said as he cleaned his Warp Rifle.

"I said _when_ I was done you could shoot it."

"Oops," was Vasquez's response as someone shouted pull and he threw the half empty beer bottle as high into the air as he could.

"You fucking asshole," Sarge said as he clenched his fists.

"I've been called worse," Sean said.

The former Insurrectionist hacker got out of his chair and went to see what was going on at the rest of the GHOSTs small 'camp site.' Really it was an old training area. Most training areas stopped being used after the invention of hardlight simulation systems created by CORTech. Sean went over to where Overstrike was at and noticed that the only one there was Izzy, who herself was passed out with a nearly empty bottle of beer in her hands.

He shook his head before going over to where his team was at. He saw the Colonel sitting their, either talking to herself or Diana, as they couldn't really 'remove' the suits. The suits could be peeled back and part of it taken off, but a small part of it always stayed on them. Sean didn't take his off at all, he just had it shape shift into a different form. He was about to say something when Helix got up.

"Hell Spawn, we got an Op," Helix shouted at her team.

"No rest for the wicked, eh Colonel?" Adriana said as she packed her gear.

"Guess not."

"Is this another raid on a Cerberus facility?" Sean asked.

"That it is. Something about improvements to their THOR and Atlas mechs."

"I don't like where this is going," Victor said as he walked up to them.

"So, any reinforcements this time?" Adriana asked.

"Technically yes, but they think they're working with IVs," Kim replied as they got into their transport Hog.

Helix got into the driver seat and waited for the rest of her team to get in before leaving. She instantly started heading towards the UNSC base near them. Once they got there, Helix showed the guards her credentials. They saluted her and instantly moved out of the way. Helix drove to her team's ready room and parked the Hog outside. Sean morphed his suit into one that matched the ODSTs as the others went inside. A few minutes later, they came back out wearing their suits. Like him, all of them had changed the look of their suits, Adriana looked like a normal ONI Spook, Helix looked like an Alliance soldier, and Victor looked like a UNSC pilot. Sean nodded at them as they started heading towards the ONI Prowler, 'Reaper.'

They climbed aboard and were saluted by several people. The team instantly went to the secured area of the ship and switched their suits back to their normal form. The team waited for a minute before their mission briefing appeared. It told them that Cerberus was working on some sort of combat suit that would act as a small scale Atlas mech, and make controlling their HOUNDs easier. It also said that these new suits would allow the HOUNDs to be controlled by the VIs inside them.

"Damn, if they get this to work…" Sean didn't finish that sentence.

Helix knew, thanks to Diana, that if they got these new suits to work, Cerberus would be harder to beat. THORs and HOUNDs with pilots were 'easy' to kill because you just needed to target the head. Once the pilot died, the THOR did also. The UNSC was able to get around that thanks to AIs, but no one in the Mass Effect Galaxy used them. The only exceptions were the Shepard siblings when it came to EDI.

"Alright, we need to get to the Nova Galaxy now," Helix said as she contacted the Captain of their Prowler. "Captain, we need to get to sector 553-alpha in the Nova Galaxy."

"[Understood Colonel Dawson. We are heading into slipspace now,]" the Captain replied.

Helix felt the familiar hum of a ship's slipspace engines starting up and checked on her weapons. After determining that they were fine, she went over to her drop pod. She loaded her weapons and made sure they were secured before stepping into her pod. She secured herself and looked back outside the pod. She saw that the rest of Hell Spawn were also loading into their pods. Helix looked around in her pod and found the ETA counter. She turned it on and saw that it said two more hours. Near it said that their reinforcements would also arrive at that time. Helix decided to get some rest until then.

* * *

_"…ivate, get the hell up, you aren't dead yet!" Someone shouted at Helix._

_She opened her eyes to discover that she was back on Requiem. She turned her head left and saw a dissolving Promethean Knight. She got up and noticed the Sergeant in front of her was holding out an ODST helmet to her. She took it from him and put it on. She looked around and saw the bodies of her ODST brothers and sisters. She remembered what had happened._

_She was sent down to Requiem as part of a patrol group. She was joking around with her childhood friend Johnathan Victors when her patrol group was ambushed. She was still a private back then, green and inexperienced. She wasn't expecting them to get ambushed by what others had best described as robots. She and John had stuck together and watched as the men and women to the right and left of them fell one by one until it was just them and their Sergeant._

_"KIM, MOVE!" John had shouted just before pushing her out of the way of a Knight's blade._

_Again, time slowed as she watched the blade cut John in half, his blood splattering onto her helmet and suit. Her helmet disconnected as she hit the ground. Her head bounced once and she saw the Knight open its face and scream at her before the world had turned black. Her Sergeant told her what happened after she passed out._

_The Knight was about to stab her, but he managed to kill it with his shotgun. He had run over to her before checking for other Knights. Once he was sure they were clear he had checked for her pulse. As he was checking she had started waking up. Suddenly time was in the right spot again._

_"We need to get moving Private," her Sergeant had told her. "Mission is FUBAR, we're heading back to base._

_Helix watched as the younger her looked around and began to cry beneath her helmet. The older her turned around to find the area now covered in mist. She turned back around to find the younger her gone._

_"Why Kim?" someone asked from behind her._

_She spun around to find an undead version of John standing there. She tried to back away and tripped over something. She looked down to find another zombie trooper. She instantly bolted to her feet and tried to run again._

_"Why did you let us die?" it asked as more of them joined the questioning._

_"I…I didn't…it wasn't me…I wasn't in charge," Helix said to defend herself._

_"What about us Colonel?" someone asked from behind her._

_Kim turned around to find here fellow GHOSTs had now joined the zombie group. All of them were armored up and some of them were missing body parts._

_"You let us die Colonel," Zombie Dalton said._

_"No I didn't…you're still-…" Helix was interrupted as a red light filled the sky._

_She watched as it grew closer and closer until it became the form of a giant robotic squid. It seemed to look straight at her as the light became brighter. She turned to run only to nearly ram into a zombie version of herself._

_"We join them now," Zombie Helix said to her as all of them attacked her._

Helix opened her eyes and bolted forward in her pod, her head slamming into the front of it.

"Ow," she said as she rubbed the spot that she hit.

{I'm sorry, but I couldn't get you to wake up any other way,} Diana said within Helix's mind

"What did you do," Helix asked, a little worried.

{I made the zombie you and had all of them attack you.}

"I guess it's better than having to live through that nightmare any further."

In another pod, Adriana was having a similar nightmare.

* * *

_She had just gotten off the tram from her school to her house. She had just finished her final exams and was excited about how she was that much closer to getting into the Luna Officer's School. She started running to her house and nearly got run over by a Fire truck._

_"Asshole!" she shouted as she crossed the street and realized something._

_"Wait, why are they here?" she asked herself as she looked into the air to see smoke coming from the direction of her house. "No, please God no."_

_She kept thinking that to herself as she sprinted the rest of the way to her home. She rounded to corner to find that it was her home on fire. The Fire department was trying their best to put out the flames, but nothing was working. She looked in the main floors window and made out the outline of what looked like a person. Adriana fell to her knees as she realized her family was inside._

_One of the officers their saw her and walked over. He put his hand on her shoulder before kneeling on the ground in front of her._

_"Someone your father put away managed to break out, he found your home and…we have him right now," the officer said as Adriana looked up to see a bearded man in his mid twenties wearing a black jacket over a white shirts, jeans, and black combat boots._

_As they tried to put him into the police car, he kept laughing and smiling about what he had just done. Adriana looked back at the Officer to see him getting up to walk away. She also noticed the Magnum sidearm holstered on his right hip._

_Before anyone could realize what was going on, she bolted up, grabbed the officer's pistol, cocked it, and fired at the man that had killed her family. She felt herself smiling as time seemed to slow as she fired the pistol again and again. She started to laugh as the man began to fall. She pulled the trigger over and over, making the gun kick again and again. She remembered feeling the recoil, remembered how when it was over she had a bruised wrist from holding the gun wrong. But before all of that, she remembered how killing that monster felt good to her. How it made her feel great. How she had kept firing until the mag was dry._

_Suddenly Adriana was watching as the younger version of her kept walking up to the mad man as she fired. The mag ran out just as Adriana got to him. She looked down and smiled at the man before using the now empty pistol like a club and kept hitting him with it. Officers tried to stop her, but were already too late. They pulled her from the corpse of the man she had just caved the skull of in. She kept smiling and laughing as they pulled her away._

_"Congratulations kid," someone said._

_Adriana turned around to find the man she had just killed standing there, his head still caved in and blood pouring from it._

_"You're a murder now, just like me," He said as Covenant ships came from the upper atmosphere._

_He continued to laugh as the Covenant began deploying. Adriana turned to run only to find a red light descending from the sky. It landed to reveal itself as the eye of a giant robotic squid. The eye grew brighter as Adriana tried to run. She turned to find her father standing there. He grabbed her shoulders and shouted one thing._

_"WAKE UP!"_

Adriana bolted awake to find herself in her pod.

{I thought you would never get up} Maximum said to her.

"I'm ok Max," Adriana said to her AI, and mainly to herself. "Just a bad dream."

* * *

_Victor opened his eyes to find his troops firing at something that had completely surrounded them. Even before it moaned he had remembered what it was. He spun around to find a Flood combat form charging at him. He lifted up his shotgun and fired. The Flood exploded as another took its place. He pulled the trigger only to find his shotgun empty. He backed up as he pulled out his knife and shoved it as far into the combat form as he could. The Flood exploded as another, wielding its own shotgun, attacked him. He would have died had a member of his squad not shot his DMR at it._

_"Sergeant, its gun," the trooper said as Garret grabbed it and started firing at anything that moved._

_As soon as it ran out, he pulled out his Magnum and continued firing. Garret ran out of ammo a minute later and attempted to call for more when one of his troopers screamed. He turned to see Corporal Andrews starting to morph as one of the parasite forms buried itself in her. Garret called out her name as another trooper died. He turned back around to see a Pelican dropship heading towards them._

_"Hold out, just hold out," Victor said as he killed what used to be Andrews._

_The dropship was getting closer as Garret continued to lose soldiers. Before he knew it, it was just him and two others. They kept firing as Garret picked up one of their former allies' weapons. Victor turned back to the Pelican to see it was hovering near them. The Marine at the turret in the back was shooting everything as he continued to smoke the cigar in his mouth._

_"I'm going to see my little girl again," one of the two Marines left alive with him said as they jumped onto the Pelican._

_It sealed and instantly took off. Garret looked at the Marine that had saved them and saw that he was still smoking._

_"Sergeant 1st Class Victor Garret," he told the Marine._

_"Sergeant Major Avery Johnson," the Marine said as he turned back around._

_"Wait, that wasn't how it happened," Victor thought to himself as he turned to face wait remained of his team, only to find Flood Combat forms of them._

_He shot up and backed to where Johnson was at. He accidentally bumped into the Marine and turned to warn him. Instead he found another Combat form._

_"You will be with us," it said as Garret ran to the cockpit. He sealed the door behind him before discovering the cockpit empty, and that they were about to crash into what looked like a giant metal squid._

_"You need to wake up now," a woman said from behind him._

_He turned and found himself staring into the open sky. He lost his balance and fell,_ making him instantly wake up.

{Sorry about that, but you weren't waking up and Humans instantly awake when they begin to fall,} Victor's AI, Jennifer said to him.

"Usually that only works if my out side body is falling," he replied before realizing that his drop pod had opened, and he had fallen out. "Oh."

* * *

_Sean found himself sitting at the controls of an old Innie command facility. He looked around and saw someone burst into the room. She was bleeding from a cut on her forehead, and her arm looked broken._

_"Launch the missile now babe," the Female Insurrectionist said._

_"Amy…it'll kill billions," he replied, his finger hovering over the fire button._

_"And trillions will be saved through their deaths. We don't have time to argue, we need to launch it they're already-…" she never got to finish that sentence as a UNSC Marine shot her through the head._

_Sean watched as the younger him screamed her name before falling to his knees. He remembered how he felt as though there was no longer anything left to live for. How he suddenly saw the reasoning in why he entered into this war. Sean watched as the younger him stayed on his knees as the Marine got closer. He remembered contemplating whether or not to let the soldier kill him. In the end, he decided to kill the Marine._

_"Disarm the missile," the Marine had told him as he got within striking distance of Sean._

_Before the Marine could react, Sean shot up and punched the Marine in the face. As he stumbled back, Sean pulled out his sidearm and shot him twice in the face before running back and pressing the fire button._

_He smiled as he turned around to find more Marines coming into the room. He dropped his gun and closed his eyes before spreading out his arms. He was expecting to join Amy, but instead they threw him to the ground and hand cuffed him. He lifted his head and stared at the face of the one he loved. He closed his eyes as tears started to form._

_"Why did you let me die?" he heard Amy ask._

_Sean opened his eyes to see Amy actually staring back at him. She blinked as blood started leaking form the hole in her head. She blinked again before asking the same question._

_"Why did you let me die? Why didn't you try to stop me when I joined the rebels?"_

_"I…it was-…"_

_"What I wanted was to be with you, now we can't. You should have told me to stay where I was!" Amy shouted at him._

_He turned his head away from her to look into the sky. He watched as a red star became bigger and bigger. Suddenly it changed into what he recognized as a robotic eye. One that was connected to a giant metal squid. It landed before speaking._

_"Your UNSC will not stop the cycle,"_ it said to him as he bolted awake.

"Jarvis…did that-…" Sean asked his AI.

{It did, but it had to have just been your fears, the Reapers don't know about the UNSC yet,} his AI replied to him.

Sean looked around to see that he was back in his pod. He leaned his head down and allowed the tears to come before whispering one word.

"Amy."

**Me: Ok I want your opinions. Were their backstories amazing, good, meh, bad, or did they suck?**

**Trin: I say…they sucked.**

**Me: Shut up sis. Now what did you really think.**

**Trin: They were good, probably could've been better though.**

**Helix: Please don't make us have those fucking nightmares very commonly.**

**Me: Don't worry there won't be anymore nightmares.**

**Helix: …Why do I get the feeling that isn't the end of this though?**

**Me: You'll see. VR Commando ATA out. Oh wait, I forgot to put who all the GHOSTs are.**

Hell Spawn (from everywhere):

Colonel Kim 'Helix' Dawson, GHOST Program CO and Hell Spawn CO, uses dual Guardians. Description in later chapter of Mass Effect: Johnson.

Lieutenant Adriana Houser, Hell Spawn marksmen and medic, uses Arcshot and Shattergun. White with blonde hair in a messy style and with multiple blue highlights and brown eyes.

Captain Victor Garret, Hell Spawn XO and heavy, uses Magshield. Black with crew-cut grey hair and multiple scars and dark grey eyes.

Lieutenant Sean Vasquez, Hell Spawn scout, uses Warp Rifle. Latino with black spiky hair and brown eyes.

Overstrike (former SPARTAN IVs) Look up Fuse characters for descriptions:

Captain Dalton Brooks, Overstrike CO and heavy, uses Magshield.

Sergeant Isabelle 'Izzy' Sinclair, Overstrike medic, uses Shattergun.

Sergeant 1st Class Naya Deveraux, Overstrike scout, uses Warp Rifle.

Sergeant Major Jacob Kimble, Overstrike XO and marksmen, uses Arcshot.

Angel (former N7s):

Captain Angelica 'Angie' Valence, Angel CO and medic, uses Shattergun. White and of French decent, black hair, and dark blue eyes.

Sergeant Andrew 'Andy' Malovic, Angel scout, uses Warp Rifle. Russian with black hair and deep blue eyes.

Sergeant Major Donavan 'Donnie' Fulson, Angel XO and marksmen, uses Arcshot. Black with black hair and brown eyes.

Sergeant 1st Class Mike 'Sarge' Navern, Angel heavy, uses Magshield. White with black hair and blue eyes.

**Me: Ok, now VR Commando ATA out.**


	4. Project LOKI (part 2)

**Me: Here's chapter 4.**

**Trin: This one has the actual fight at the Cerberus base.**

**Me: Project LOKI will now be revealed.**

**Helix: Just before we send them all to hell.**

**Me: Also, aDarkOne, yes this story is centered around an OPed human Spec Ops group, but I am not killing every other non-human and blowing the Reapers up with a button. One: that's what the Crucible does, and I hate that shit, and two: even the most OPed person can be killed by being outnumbered. On with the story!**

"Talking."

"_Thinking."_

"[Electronic communication.]"

{AI intercommunication}

**Project LOKI (part 2 Copy Cat)**

[**Nova Galaxy, Orbit above 'uninhabited' planet, ONI Prowler 'Reaper':**]

"[GHOST team Hell Spawn, prepare for drop,]" another ONI officer said as the lights in their pods turned from green to red before they moved.

Helix activated her pod's view screens and saw her team doing the same. She looked down and noticed a small box in the corner of her pod. It was labeled XL-G.

"_Diana, think you could get those open?" _Helix asked.

{Give me a second,} the AI replied as the armor completely peeled off of her left arm and formed a tendril.

"_Liquid metal BDUs…I don't think I'll ever get used to what they can do,"_ Helix said to Diana.

{Well…I guess you won't. Ok got it open…its grenades,} Diana said as the armor reformed on Helix's arm.

Helix looked back down and saw multiple grenades that looked like a more squared version of the standard UNSC frag grenade. Before she could question what they were, her pod launched. Kim looked through the pods 'window' to see several THORs launching with them. She would have questioned why if an anti-air round hadn't passed in front of her view. She looked down as Diana activated one of the armor's enhanced view modes. Helix could now see several HOUNDs waiting for them on the ground.

Helix looked back up to see a US Marine themed THOR mech drop past her. Helix instantly recognized it as the mech belonging to the THOR program's CO General Tex Lederausschnitt.

"[This is General Groundpounder to all THOR units, get ready for a fight people,]" the General said to everyone under her command.

Helix watched as the General's THOR hit the ground before activating its weapon. Her mech pulled out a giant rifle that resembled an old M4A1 with an ACOG scope, laser sight, and under barrel grenade launcher. From what Helix had been told, the General herself used the actual M4A1 rifle with those attachments, only upgraded to be able to compare to modern weapons. Once the weapon was out, the other THORs hit the ground.

{So she has a thing for…'retro' weapons?} Diana asked Helix as the pod landed.

"_Yeah she does, now mind on the mission,"_ Helix replied to the AI.

The other GHOSTs landed and readied their weapons as Helix had them regroup. She looked up and saw the outline of the target factory a short distance away from where they were. Helix pointed to it and they began moving through the forest.

"Hey Colonel," Helix turned to face Sean, "I think I found a way inside."

Sean pointed to a pipe, one that seemed to head underground. Diana scanned it and discovered that it would get them into the facility. It would also lead them into the facility's sewer system. Helix sighed before nodding. Sean stood guard as Kim, Adriana, and Victor went into the pipe. Helix walked a couple more steps before slipping and falling into a deeper part. Adriana and Victor looked at each other before following their CO. Sean went in after them and also slipped.

"Fuck," he shouted as he fell into the sewage the others had already fallen into.

"What a wonderful smell you've discovered Sean," Adriana said as she wiped off the bit of sewage that splashed onto her helmet's face.

"Would you rather dodge THORs? NO, then shut the fuck up," Sean said.

"Both of you shut up and get moving," Helix said as she switched her view to thermal.

"Ladies first Ms. Houser," Sean said with a slight bow.

"Pawns before rooks," Adriana said.

"Quiet, I heard something," Victor said as he activated his thermal.

Helix looked into the sewage and saw a flash of red go across the side. She instantly pulled out both pistols and kept looking for it. The other three GHOSTs followed her example and readied their own weapons. Helix pulled out one of her new grenades and threw it forward. It sank into the muck before detonating. After it detonated, three energy tendrils appeared and instantly went towards one spot. The GHOSTs heard what sounded like machinery being fried before an explosion occurred. The team continued moving as they watched the walls and sewage for any sign of whatever that thing was.

Hell Spawn had been moving for a few minutes when they heard voices from above them. Helix tapped her helmet and pointed up before switching views again to x-ray sight. She looked up to see multiple Cerberus troopers running around, one officer just standing there, and multiple mechs that Helix didn't recognize. Before anything else could happen, the man that was just standing there looked down. Helix got a slight headache and looked back at him before realizing that he was staring right where they were. He smiled before walking away and saying something to one of the troopers. The trooper looked down at them and pointed before the officer began walking away.

As he got further away, Helix's headache lessened. Before it disappeared, she heard someone's voice in her head, and it wasn't Diana.

"_Have fun with these pawns, GHOSTs,"_ the unknown voice said just as rounds started punching through the floor above them.

"MOVE!" Helix shouted as the GHOSTs started looking for a way up.

{That man…he was-…} Diana said.

"_In my head, I know. How is that possible?"_ Helix asked as she kicked open a door to the team's left.

{Precursors had that ability…its possible that Cerberus found a small data cache near here that told them about it.}

"_So any human can do that?"_ Helix asked as she killed a Cerberus soldier that was trying to stop them.

{Theoretically yes, but it was unknown to the Precursors whether or not your species would ever unlock it.}

"_Well Cerberus managed to…question is how?"_

{I did detect some sort of secondary brainwave activity coming from the officer. Give me a moment and I'll have what it was.}

Helix sighed as she vaulted over a bit of cover and took out to troopers before a Phantom appeared and attacked her. Helix blocked the blade with both her pistols and sent a kick to the Elite Cerberus soldier's gut. The Phantom stumbled backwards for a bit before back flipping away. The Phantom tried to cloak, but was stopped by a bolt from Adriana's Arcshot. The Phantom looked at the bolt and then at Adriana before it detonated and caused her to burn up. Helix nodded her head at Adriana and turned back around to fire at the Cerberus soldiers.

"AHH!" Helix spun back around to see Adriana on her knees and clutching her head in pain.

"Houser, get the hell up puta," Sean shouted as he fired his Warp Rifle at multiple soldiers.

"Victor, cover her now!" Kim shouted as she continued to fire at the Cerberus troopers.

Garret ran up and quickly made a box of shields around Adriana before running back out to join the fight. Helix continued to fire her weapons at the Cerberus soldiers that kept coming at them. After a minute the waves of troopers stopped and Adriana slowly got up.

{Got it, that officer, the Reapers are using a signal being sent to all Cerberus soldiers to bend him to their will. I decided to check as many others as I could, and it seems that all of them have this happening to them,} Diana said.

"_So what does that have to do with his telepathic abilities?"_ Helix asked as she checked on Adriana, who quickly waved her off.

{It seems that what the Reapers use has unlocked those abilities within him. Personally I think the price is way to high to have the abilities of a telepath.}

"_Yeah, rather not be controlled by giant robo squids in exchange for those abilities."_

"So are those the LOKI mechs?" Sean asked.

Helix looked up to see a mech that looked like an upgraded version of the THOR mechs. It seemed like Cerberus tried to improve its look to her. Helix couldn't understand why they decided putting wings on it. Then she realized that the chest was open, revealing multiple missile launchers. She looked at the arms and recognized the marks of deployable blades and plasma cannons.

"Damn, they did pretty well for a bunch of knockoffs," Victor said.

"Yeah, damn putas did good," Sean said in agreement.

Helix looked at the head unit again and noticed something attached to the visor's sides. It looked like scanners to Helix. She walked over to one of the consoles in front of them and activated it. She looked at it and read that they were unable to make them autonomous, but they did manage something else. It didn't describe it any further than that. Helix looked back at the mech and caught someone duck inside the head unit. Helix turned to see if her team was still there and saw all three standing behind her.

"MOVE NOW!" Helix shouted as the LOKI mech's visor lit up.

The mech then began to rise as a door behind it opened to reveal the battle raging outside. The LOKI mech turned around and began to run towards the fight. Helix was about to go after it when Victor fell to his knees screaming. Adriana ran up and forcible peeled away his helmet's face as he began to bleed from his nose. Ten seconds later, he was getting back up with Adriana's help.

"What the hell is going on?" Helix asked.

"Something's getting into our minds Colonel. I don't know what it is, but it started talking to me when this happened to me," the Lieutenant said as Victor started standing on his own.

"It's that damn Cerberus officer, they found a Precursor artifact," Helix said.

"I thought only we could unlock them ma'am?" Victor asked as his helmet recovered his face.

"We're able to because we're human, Cerberus is humans also."

Before anything else could be said a THOR was slammed to the ground by them. Helix looked over to see a LOKI mech holding it down as the two scanner-like objects on its head lit up and sent a wave of blue light over the THOR mech. Once the light disappeared, the LOKI mech got off the THOR. Helix recognized the THOR as Loneflame. The THOR got up and Marissa made it pick its hardlight blade back up. Kim looked through the hole the two mechs created to see a metal cylinder pop out of the LOKI's hand. It held it up before activating it, revealing a hardlight blade that matched Loneflame's. Loneflame took a step back from shock as Helix's eyes went wide beneath her helmet.

"THEY CAN COPY OUR SPECIAL EQUIPMENT!?" Victor shouted from behind Helix.

Helix stood there and watched as Loneflame charged at the LOKI mech. Marissa swung her blade as the Cerberus pilot deflected it with his. It swung its blade as Marissa blocked it. She then grabbed the LOKI's wrist and attempted to stab its head, only for its chest to open and multiple missiles to fire out of it. The missiles impacted Loneflame and Marissa stumbled backwards. The LOKI attempted to finish her off, but was stopped by a quick swipe from Marissa's blade. The LOKI fell forward as it lost its entire left leg. The mech looked at what used to be its leg before looking back at Marissa and pushing itself up.

Helix watched the mech and noticed that it still acted like it had its left leg. She realized that they found a way around the Neural Bridge pain. That would make them harder to take down, but not invincible. It tried to switch one of its hands to the plasma cannon, but was stopped as Marissa shoved her blade through its head. The LOKI slide back to the ground at the loss of its pilot Marissa looked at her mech and finally noticed the amount of damage the LOKI managed to do with its missiles.

"[This is Loneflame, my mech is heavily damaged, I'm sending everyone I can still reach a data packet about Cerberus' new LOKI mechs,]" Helix heard Marissa say before running off to rejoin the battle.

"Start setting up bombs now," Helix said as she turned back around.

Only then did she realize that Sean had also fallen victim to the Cerberus telepath. She was about to go check on him when it happened to her. Just like the others, she fell to her knees and clutched her head in pain. She felt blood start to come out of her nose.

"_Even as a Colonel, you still fail those around you,"_ the Cerberus officer said as Helix managed to lift her head.

She saw the Cerberus officer standing there, with a cocky smirk on his face. She slowly looked right to see Cerberus troopers pouring out of a door. The other GHOSTs turned and attacked this oncoming threat as Helix just kneeled there in pain. She tried to call out to them, but wasn't able to use her voice.

"_You'll watch as the men and women under your command die," _the officer said just as a sword was shoved through Adriana's chest.

The Phantom decloaked and pulled Adriana's corpse off of her blade. Victor slightly turned his Magshield and fired a blast at her. He turned back to see a grenade land behind the shield. Sean grabbed it and turned away from the other GHOST just as the frag went off. Garret turned towards Helix and peeled away his helmet's face to look at her with hate clear in his eyes.

"You failed us," he said as a sniper shot him through the head.

"_No, don't leave us,"_ the officer said as he laughed at Helix. _"Don't leave us here to die Colonel. Not like your ODST brothers and sisters on Requiem. HAHAHAHA!"_

The officer continued to laugh as one of the Cerberus troopers ran up to her and grabbed her shoulders before looking her in the face.

"_Colonel!"_ it shouted at her. _"Colonel, wake up! Helix! ...KIM!"_ it shouted in Adriana's voice.

"What?" Helix said as Adriana helped her up. "What…but-…?"

"What ever you saw wasn't real, none of it was ma'am," Adriana said as Helix looked around to see Victor and Sean placing the last of the charges.

"Bombs are set, now can we get going?" Sean asked.

"I think not," someone said from above them.

Helix looked up to see the Cerberus officer standing there. He smiled at them before cringing in pain. He closed his blue eyes in pain and fell to his knees. He got back up and opened his brown eyes. His eyes darted back and forth before he closed them again in pain. They opened to reveal blue eyes.

"You…will now die, GHOSTs," the officer said as the place around them changed.

"Where the hell are we?" Kim asked as she looked around to see the part of Requiem where her team died.

"None of it's real, it's all just an illusion, don't let it get to you," Adriana said.

"You are not making anyone feel any better," Sean said as a giant version of the Cerberus officer appeared.

"What the fucking hell!? The fuck do we do Colonel!?" Victor shouted at her.

"Solve this problem the same way we solve all our others, shoot it until it stops getting back up," Helix said as she fired her Guardians at the giant's head.

With no better ideas, the GHOSTs began firing at its head. Adriana was dual wielding her Shattergun and Arcshot, Sean was using his Warp rifle, and Victor was using his Savager. They shot the giant at any exposed area, but it did nothing. The Cerberus officer just laughed at them.

"_Aim for the head,"_ Helix heard someone say.

Helix decided to listen and fired at the officer's head. A few rounds hit its eye and the giant stumbled before righting itself. Helix ordered Hell Spawn to fire at the officer's head. The GHOSTs nodded in understanding as they watched the giant stumble over and over again.

"ENOUGH!" it shouted at them as multiple Cerberus soldiers appeared out of nowhere. "KILL THEM!"

Helix switched to firing at the troopers as the giant raised a fist. Helix rolled out of the way just as it hit the ground. Had she not moved, she would have been squashed. She turned back to see a sniper fire a shot at her. If Victor hadn't shown up, the bullet that the Nemesis had shot might have hit her. Instead, it stuck into his shield. Victor smiled as he fired the shot back at the Nemesis. Her head disappeared as Helix fired at the officer. Adriana and Sean jumped behind Victor's shield and helped Helix with firing at the officer. They kept firing at the officer and after another minute he stumbled again.

"THIS IS POINTLESS," he said to the GHOSTs. "YOU CAN NOT DEFEAT ME!"

Helix flipped him off before going back to shooting him as every avoided getting shot by staying behind the shield line Victor made. Adriana smiled under her helmet as the multiple bolts she fired into the officer's formed a smiley face. Adriana then detonated the bolts as Helix shot the officer in his eye. He screamed before collapsing onto the ground as the illusions dissolved.

"You…can't beat…me…," the officer croaked out before opening his brown eyes. "…Kill…me…please." Helix walked up to him and put one of her Guardians to his head. "It's now or never Colonel!" the officer shouted before closing his eyes in pain.

"I'm sorry," Helix said as she pulled the trigger.

The officer's corpse slumped to the ground as his blood pooled around him. Helix looked back outside to see a THOR and LOKI fighting each other with glowing fists. Every time a hit would connect, an explosion happened. She watched as the THOR managed to stumble the LOKI into another LOKI mech. Both of them fell and were destroyed by a quick shot from Leather Neck's special equipment, the grenade launcher connected to the rifle. The mech controlled by General Tex looked at the ground and saw a damaged LOKI attempting to escape. Tex aimed her rifle one-handed at the LOKI and fired a quick burst into its head. Its head unit exploded as the three giant rounds impacted it. Helix then turned back to look at her GHOSTs.

"Alright people, time to head home," she said as they morphed their armor to look like S-IV armor and walked outside.

A pelican landed and picked them up as heavy transports brought the THORs back to the ships. Helix looked back outside as Victor put up three fingers. He put them down one by one until there were none left and he pumped his fist once. As he did that, the bombs inside the former Cerberus facility exploded, destroying it.

"Hell of a first solo mission huh boss?" Adriana asked as she elbowed Helix.

Helix smiled beneath her helmet and nodded before addressing Diana.

"_That was you when we were fighting the telepath, wasn't it?"_

{Actually no, I couldn't get through to you,} the AI replied to her.

"_You mean-…"_

{Yes, he managed to great through the Reaper's hold and tell you where to shoot to kill him.}

"_If that shit happens to me…I hope I have that much will power,"_ Helix thought as the Pelican's bay door closed.

**Me: Well that's it for chapter 4.**

**Trin: What is with you and giving cool tech to the bad guys?**

**Me: It's to someone even it out.**

**Helix: Come again?**

**Me: I don't like it when the good guys when extremely easily, so I give the bad guys some better tech to compensate.**

**Helix: …I hate you.**

**Me: 'I hate you…?'**

**Helix: …I hate you…sir.**

**Me: Better.**

**Trin: Here's General-X's OC.**

**Me: And the last submit able one. No more after this.**

Name: Tex Lederausschnitt

Gender: Female  
Rank: General  
Codename: Groundpounder  
THOR Name: Leather Neck  
THOR appearance: U.S. Marine dress uniform painted on with semper fidelis going up and down on one side of the torso and always faithful up and down on the other side of the torso has cut here and I dotted line on the neck has the U.S. Marine corps emblem on the back and the U.S. Flag on one shoulder and the UNSC emblem on the other  
Weapons: has a giant 556mm version of the M4A1 with a laser sight an ACOG scope and a 40m underslung grenade launcher and a 400ft long combat knife  
Side notes: plays the marine corps theme song, the American national anthem, and 'Riot' by Three Days Grace during combat  
Pilot Weapons: same only scaled down for pilot use  
Pilot Appearance: same only in ODST armor

**Me: That's now there, also, backstories for Lemanruss669's characters from Mass Effect: Johnson are being put into a story on his profile. Go check it out to learn more about his characters. Well that's all, VR Commando ATA out.**


	5. New Ship

**Me: Chapter five of GHOSTs.**

**Trin: So now what will be happening?**

**Me: Random missions and little details until they blow up the Relay…or deactivate it. I haven't decided which.**

**Helix: It's us. What do you think will happen?**

**Me: Lot of shit blowing up. On with the story!**

"Talking."

"_Thinking."_

"[Electronic communication.]"

{AI intercommunication}

**New Ship**

[**Terra Galaxy, Reach (Re-Terraformed), Ship Building Yards:**]

Helix looked at the, still being built, Normandy SR3. She wasn't sure why the Alliance and UNSC hadn't just left the upgrades for the SR2, but she learned never to question Brass…or ONI. The construction was being done by the Reclaimer Alliance, UNSC, and ONI. The third group was why she was here. Once the new Normandy was done, it would be given to Captain Jane Shepard, and the GHOSTs. Shepard was going to be told about who the GHOSTs really were once it was ready for launch. Rumors were already spreading through the fleets about the GHOSTs. Some were that they were the deceased SPARTAN IIs, others were that they were Spec Ops ODSTs or SPARTANs, a few were even that they were surviving Forerunners that had sided with the UNSC. Helix laughed as she remembered the last one.

"Something funny Colonel?" someone asked from behind her.

Helix turned her head to see the youngest of the Shepard siblings, Lieutenant Commander Angel Shepard. Kim shrugged before looking back at the larger and faster Normandy. She saw the pilot of the last two versions, and supposedly this version, talking to one of the engineers about something. Helix assumed it was how the controls were.

{Most likely. A pilot needs to know how to fly their vehicle after all,} Diana said.

"I already knew that Diana," Helix said aloud.

"Um…what?" Angel asked.

"Sorry, AI in my head," Helix said as she tapped her forehead.

Angel raised an eyebrow at that as she went up to the railing with Helix. The younger woman looked down and saw a THOR mech being loaded into the ship. Helix noticed it also and looked over to see the N7's reaction. Angel's eyes were wide with shock and awe. Not many Alliance personnel had seen THOR mechs; even fewer had seen them in action. Helix looked back down to see ODST drop pods being loaded into another part of the ship. She realized that if things were being loaded into it, then the ship would be ready for launch today or tomorrow. She smiled as she realized that-…

"_HEY KIM CAN YOU HEAR ME?"_ Helix heard Adriana's voice shout at her.

"AH!" was Dawson's response as she fell backwards.

"_Sorry, shouldn't have yelled."_

"Adriana!? The fuck!? How are you-…"

"_I asked Max if we could telepathically communicate using the armor, and he said we might be able to."_

"Then how are you hearing me when I talk out loud?" Helix asked as Angel walked up to her with a concerned look on her face.

"_I…huh…not really sure. Maybe because you think what you say before or as you speak?"_ Adriana said.

{That actually is the reason that you can respond by both thinking and talking,} Diana informed them.

"_I can hear Diana to!? That's fucking awesome!"_

"Colonel Dawson? You ok?" Angel asked as Helix stood up.

"Fine, just talking to one of my squad members," Kim replied to the N7.

"_What you can't tell her?"_ Adriana asked.

"_Only her sister,"_ Helix replied in her head as she noticed everyone starting to clear out on the ground. "We should head up to the station," she said to Angel.

The Alliance soldier looked behind her to see the Normandy SR3's engines starting up.

"Right, race you Colonel," Angel said as she took off.

"_I could make it harder for her if you want,"_ Adriana said.

"No need it's not like-…"

"Last one there buys the beer!" Angel shouted back to the GHOST.

"…On second thought, slow her down."

An hour later, Angel was grumbling about 'UNSC cheats' as she paid for several crates of beer that were being loaded onto the Normandy. Adriana stood behind her and laughed as the N7 finished paying and looked back at the UNSC soldiers.

"I'm sure this won't be the last time we see each other, but I'm not assigned to the Normandy," Angel said to Helix as Adriana went into the SR3. "Good luck with my sister and brother."

The N7 saluted Dawson, who saluted back, before turning and walking away. Kim turned and walked into the docking tube connected to the SR3. Helix looked around to see someone waiting at the end of the tube for her. She recognized him from the dossiers.

"_Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko, Biotic and Tech specialist, L2 implant, calm and easy going, Utterly loyal to Shepard and the Alliance," _Kim ran through her head._ "Slight dislike of the UNSC, strong dislike of ONI."_

The Alliance Sentinel saw her and waved her over, a smile on his face for greeting a new member of the Normandy. It would probably be a look of utter hate if he knew she was an ONI operative. Helix smiled back and shook his hand, wondering if he knew who she was or not.

"Welcome aboard the Normandy," Kaiden said as he released her hand. "Captain Shepard asked me to greet any late comers to the ship."

"I'm late?" Helix asked, truly confused.

"Yeah, didn't think everyone would show up so soon either, but they did."

"I assume that means all other crew members are aboard?"

"Yep, other than you and me so are we going in or what?"

Helix rolled her eyes as she walked up to the airlock. She waited a second before it opened to reveal the other airlock door. Helix walked inside as Kaiden followed her. The airlock closed behind them as a decontamination cycle started. Once it stopped, the second airlock door opened to reveal the main deck of the SR3. Unlike the SR1 and SR2, the SR3's airlock didn't lead to the bridge. It also had three other airlocks connecting to the deck, two on each side of the ship. Helix looked around to see multiple UNSC, ONI, and Alliance personnel walking around on the deck.

"[All crew, prepare for disembark. All ONI Spec Ops group Gamma members report to the debriefing room,]" EDI said over the coms.

"See you later Lieutenant," Helix said as she started walking away.

"Wait…you're ONI?" Kaiden asked.

"Yep, now I have to go see what's going on."

Helix left Kaiden grumbling about spooks. She went to the elevator and hit the button for Deck 1, the CIC. The doors closed and the elevator began moving. Barely five seconds later, the doors opened again. Helix looked around to see a command deck that still looked like the first two. Of course the bridge now used only cameras, since they were too far inside the ship to see outside. Helix walked past multiple crew members sitting at their stations, or just walking around to get acquainted to their new ship. The ones walking would stop and salute as she walked by. She entered another room to find what looked like an area for diplomatic meetings. Kim continued walking towards another door at the other end of the room. She walked through to see the other members of GHOST, Captain Shepard, and holograms of Dr. Halsey and Admiral Keyes. Helix walked in just as a hologram of Admiral Hackett appeared.

"[Now that everyone is here, Captain Shepard, I need your word that what transpires here will never be spoken of to anyone else,]" Halsey said.

"Sure…but why exactly?" the Captain asked.

"[Captain Shepard, while this is an Alliance vessel, it will be under the command of ONI, and will be the base of ONI Spec Ops group Gamma, better known as the GHOSTs.]"

"Wait," Jane said as she turned to the GHOSTs, "I thought you guys were a myth."

"That's what people used to think about the SPARTANs also," Helix said as she shook Jane's hand.

"[The Normandy will serve as their base and deployment center,]" Halsey said. "[No one else is to know about them, are we clear Captain?]"

"Crystal ma'am," Jane replied, knowing not to cross _any_ director of ONI.

"[Good, I'll leave the rest of this to Admiral Keyes and Admiral Hackett,]" Halsey said as her hologram disappeared.

"[As the Doctor said, this vessel will serve as the GHOST's command and control. Don't screw this up Shepard, we need the UNSC to understand we can handle something like this,]" Hackett said as he and Keyes looked at each other.

"[Which leads us to the next part of this meeting,]" Keyes said. "[The Normandy will be joining a UNSC/Alliance battle group under my command.]"

"What other Alliance vessels will be in this group sir?" Jane asked as the GHOSTs looked at each other. None of them were expecting that part.

"[You'll see when you get there, Shepard,]" Hackett said. "[Your mother's ship is one of them though.]"

"[I'm having a meeting for each of the group's Cos aboard the Salvation,]" Keyes said.

"Wait…why is a flagship's defense force a battle group instead of a fleet?" Jane asked as the GHOSTs noticed something come into the area.

Helix looked over at Sean and Adriana and nodded. The two GHOSTs nodded back and walked over to where the shimmering was before leaning against the consoles there.

"[You'll find out during the meeting,]" Hackett said, glaring slightly at Keyes, before his hologram disappeared.

"[See you in an hour Captain,]" Admiral Keyes said as his hologram also disappeared.

Jane turned around just as Adriana and Sean jumped the shimmer. The shimmering disappeared as the woman's invisibility generator was overloaded. Helix looked over to see a woman in an orange body suit with a hood. The only parts of her face visible beneath the hood were the woman's mouth, which had a line of purple lipstick on it, and her eyes. Helix instantly assumed she was wearing HUD lenses since the woman's eyes seemed to glow.

"Wait! Its okay, she's with me," Shepard shouted as she raised her arms.

Sean looked up, his fist still raised above the woman's head as Adriana kept her boot on the woman's neck.

"Kasumi, I thought you weren't allowed near this place?" Jane asked.

"Standard MPs aren't good with Active Camo units," Sean clarified.

"Um…just wanted to see what I could…can you call these people off?" Kasumi asked.

"GHOSTs stand down," Helix shouted before Jane had even opened her mouth.

Sean and Adriana got off the master thief, who slowly got up after them. Kasumi looked around, hiding her nervousness with a cocky expression. Naya looked over and smiled at her, seeing straight through it.

"Captain, you do realize that your friend here has to be detained right? She's lucky we aren't killing her on the spot for overhearing classified intel," Helix said as she glared at the thief.

"No one is arresting Kasumi, she knows how to keep a secret, there's no chance of your existence getting out," Jane said with a glare at Kasumi to say 'agree or you die.'

"Right, lips are sealed," the Japanese thief said before attempting to leave.

She was stopped when Kimble grabbed her shoulders to hold her there. She attempted to break out of the former S-IV's grasp as Adriana remembered something.

"_Kim, we can erase her memory of this…well…Max says we can,"_ Adriana said thought to her.

"…Do it," Helix said as both Kasumi and Jane looked at her questioningly.

Adriana smiled before walking in front of Kasumi and grabbing her face. The bit of armor that was still on Adriana suddenly lit up orange as she focused on the thief. After three seconds, she let go, the thief's head dropping and a bit of blood coming out of her nose. Kasumi slowly looked back up as Adriana backed up. She looked around and then back at Jane.

"…I swear, I wasn't stowing away," Kasumi said.

"…Do you remember who I am?" Jane asked, a little concerned for her friend.

"I don't think they hit me _that_ hard Jane. I don't remember being hit at all actually, the UNSC is pretty good," Kasumi said as she saw a bit of blood fall onto the floor. Kimble let go of her as she felt her nose. She lifted her hand back up to see her own blood there.

"Before anything else happens, you're confined to my quarters Kasumi," Jane said as she crossed her arms.

"But-…"

"No complaints, anyone else will shoot you on site, especially if you're invisible."

"To many bad experiences with cloaked energy sword Elites," Dalton said as he looked at the scar on his arm, a reminder of his own close call.

"…Only because I don't feel like getting killed," Kasumi said as Jane grabbed her arm and lead her to her quarters like a parent about to discipline their misbehaved child.

The GHOSTs left to their quarters as well. With no one to stop them, they started altering them to how they wanted it. Adriana sprayed graffiti on anything that could be covered by something without messing up, Helix set up the warship models that she had kept since childhood, and Naya set up listening devices and cameras everywhere on the ship. All of Naya's items connected to the monitors that covered an entire wall in her room. It was similar to the set up used by both Zaeed and Miranda Lawson. Dalton set up weights in his room and Kimble set up a tracking system for any targets the GHOSTs would get in his. Everyone else just put a few personal touches.

Helix looked at her monitor to see it blinking, notifying her that it had a new message. Helix activated it and keyed the tracker. The message popped up just as a warning did.

{Unable to track,} the VI connected to the laptop like device said. Before Helix could do anything, a video chat started.

"[Agent Helix I believe?]" a voice that couldn't be said.

Helix spun around to see Lawson on the other screen.

"Do you Cerberus assholes not no the meaning of 'you are dead'?" Helix asked.

"[You could say that, I guess. We tend to make sure our people won't be killed so easily, using something even the UNSC hasn't gotten down yet.]"

"…Cloning."

"[Correct Ms. Dawson.]"

Helix tensed up.

"So are you the original or a copy?"

"[The original. No need for secrets Kim.]"

Helix felt her body tense again.

"[Oh don't worry, you're all still just myths, even to Cerberus.]"

"Then how did you figure it out?"

"[I like to keep tabs on my clones.]"

"…You sure the real name of your group isn't Hydra?"

"[You mean the characters from Marvel comics? Yes I'm quite certain we aren't imaginary. And stop stalling in an attempt for your systems to track me, it won't work.]"

"You are well informed, but you're still going to die bitch."

"[How do you plan to do that when you yourself are dead?]"

Only then did Helix realize what was going on. Lawson was tracking them, giving their coordinates to a Cerberus strike team. Helix smiled as she also realized something else. Cerberus couldn't track them in Slipspace.

"[What are you smiling about?]"

"This was a nice chat Ms. Lawson," Helix said as she pulled out her pistol. "But I need to be going. Goodbye."

She fired the entire mag into the monitor before keying Joker's comm.

"Get us into Slipspace now!" Helix shouted at the Flight Lieutenant.

"[Reason?]"

"I'm the same rank as Shepard, do it now!"

"[Fine, this is why I-…]"

"JUST DO IT!"

Suddenly Helix felt the familiar feeling of a Slipspace engine starting up. She ran out of her quarters and nearly broke down the door to Naya's. Before her subordinate could question this, Helix activated the monitor connected the ship's external cameras to see a Cerberus ship coming out of FTL as they went through the Slipspace portal. Kim deactivated the monitor with a sigh. She had seen them starting to deploy a LOKI just before they got through the portal.

"There a reason for this Colonel?" Naya asked.

"Not anymore Sergeant," Helix said as she left the room.

Helix walked out just as Adriana was leaving her room, carrying a box of empty spray cans with her. Curious, Helix walked over to her teammate's room to see everywhere covered in graffiti. She looked at the ceiling to see an image of Hell Spawn team in ODST armor. Next to them was Overstrike in their old SPARTAN armor, and of course Angel team in their N7 armor. Helix backed up into Adriana.

"So what do you think Colonel?" Adriana said with a smile on her face, the same one she had whether she was creating her art, or killing someone.

"I think you're gonna need a gas mask for a while," Helix said. "Great job though, how did you do this in such a short time?"

"I had Max help me using the armor."

"Wait, they can do that?"

"Yep, now I need to go grab something to eat," Adriana left Helix to stand there.

"I think I should eat something to," Helix said as she followed the Lieutenant.

**Me: Well there it is, I finally did a decent job on something that didn't involve actual combat.**

**Trin: You seen my hair dye anywhere?**

**Me: Which one?**

**Trin: Blue.**

**Helix: Check with Adriana.**

**Me: Onto the Codex!**

{Warning_accessing_classified_intel_without_authorization_will_result_in_your_termination…Welcome_Dr._Halsey._Opening_classified_intel}

September 12, 2565: ONI Spec Ops group Gamma, AKA GHOSTs, assigned to Normandy SR3.

SSV Normandy SR3: The newest version of the Normandy was created as a joint op between the Reclaimer Alliance, Sangheili Empire, and UNSC/ONI. The Alliance was able to have it stay the same shape as the SR2, but had to remove the top fins. It utilizes the SR2's old stealth systems while also using ONI and Sangheili ship cloaking tech, allowing the SR3, and anyone and anything inside it, to become invisible to anything outside. The Normandy can be right next to an enemy ship, and they won't know that anything is there until the rounds start flying, and even then they might not know it as the SR3 is capable of remaining stealthed while firing. The Sangheili also upgraded the power systems to allow the SR3 to have plasma weaponry along side its mass effect and standard weaponry. The SR3 has a MAC that can fire plasma and solid rounds in single shots or 'three round bursts.' The SR3 is also the only Dreadnought sized stealth vessel that can still be qualified as a stealth vessel. It utilizes a Mass Effect drive and Slipspace drive.


	6. Reapers?

**Me: Chapter six. Should be getting back to the action in this chapter or the next.**

**Trin: At least reveal some of the ships that will be in the Salvation's battle group.**

**Helix: Time to go blow shit up sir?**

**Me: …Yes it is Helix. On-…**

**Random Reaper: On with +Sound of MAC firing+**

**Me: +Gets off MAC turret+ On with the story!**

"Talking."

"_Thinking."_

"[Electronic communication.]"

{AI intercommunication}

**Reapers?**

[**Terra Galaxy, Eternal Salvation Defense Force, Uninhabited Planet:**]

{I still don't get why you listen to music from hundreds of years ago,} Diana said to Helix.

Kim was currently in the ship's gym and was listening to the 500+ year old band called Slipknot. Helix set the bar and weights back onto the holder before getting up and putting on more weights. Helix was attempting to beat her best, and was having Diana be her spotter in the armor.

"I listen to them because they're good. Better than the shit we have now at least," Helix said as she started lifting the bar up and down.

{You know that we will need to leave in…1.5 minutes if we don't want anyone to see me.}

"You have an Active Camo generator built in."

{…True, just thought we weren't going to need it…also…did you notice you're lifting 400 pounds?}

Helix put the bar back down before looking at her armor and AI. She looked back at the bar and noticed that it really was 400 pounds now. Helix looked at herself, trying to find changes in the amount of noticeable muscle on her body. She looked no different than she had as an ODST, and she barely got to 200 lbs then.

"You telling me the suit altered my muscle mass, without altering how I look?"

{It was a possibility.}

"…How much do you think I can lift?"

{If scans are correct…as much as a SPARTAN.}

"With or without armor?"

{Unfortunately…without.}

"Damn," Helix said as she added 200 more pounds to the bar.

{I'm not sure if the bar can survive that much weight.}

Helix looked at it to notice that it was starting to bend. She sighed before removing the weights and moving to the SPARTAN side of the gym.

At the same time, Adriana was going through several punching bags. She was now on number seven, and had finally grabbed one from the SPARTAN section of the gym. This one was actually holding up to her punches. Adriana had actually painted a face onto the punching bags after that person had pissed her off. Adriana smiled as she sent another punch into the face SPARTAN Team Omega's former scout. The cat obsessed psychopath had managed to piss her off by 'borrowing' several of her spray cans.

After managing to give the SPARTAN IV, III as she claimed, a black eye, something that had surprised her enough to allow Luna to give her a black eye of her own, she went back to the Normandy. Another thing that surprised her was that by the time she got back to the Normandy, she no longer had a black eye. She then started venting her anger on the multiple punching bags in the gym.

Unknown to either of them, the small band that was the armor connected to them was glowing. It was only the thin line of orange on it, so their failure to notice was understandable. The door to the gym started to open and Diana instantly made the armor disappear from sight. Two SPARTAN IVs suddenly walked in. they went over to their side of the gym and stopped when they noticed Helix bench-pressing 600 pounds without any problems. One went over and acted as her spotter as the other grabbed another hundred pounds of weight. Helix set the bar down again and added the extra weight before going back to it. Now the bar was starting to raise and lower more slowly.

Adriana walked over to the sparing ring and climbed up before leaning on the ropes. One of the IVs looked over before climbing into the ring with her.

Helix's spotter carefully took the bar from her and set it down as they went over to watch the spar. As they started to fight, more people came in, both Alliance and UNSC. A Krogan and walked up to the ring before saying something to the sparing soldiers.

"I fight the winner," he said before joining the crowd in watching.

Adriana sent three punches into the IV's face before jumping up, grabbing his shoulders, and throwing him as she finished her flip. As he landed, Adriana ran up and picked him up before slamming him back into the ground. As he got up Adriana backed away and waited. He stood there for a second before charging at Adriana. She smiled before side stepping him and clothes lining him. Her smile disappeared as she quickly clutched her arm.

"FUCK!" she shouted as she stood there.

"You alright?" the SPARTAN she had just clothes lined asked as he went over to check on her.

She showed him her arm as Helix vaulted over the ropes to check on her subordinate. Adriana's arm was bent a bit where the SPARTAN had hit it.

"Well, at least now I know not to clothes line someone that has unbreakable bones," Adriana said as she managed a smile.

Helix took her to the medical level to get her arm fixed. Before they even got there, Adriana was tapping Helix's shoulder.

"Um…boss," Adriana said.

"What?" Helix asked as she turned to face her team member.

Her eyes widened as Adriana showed her the now healed arm. Helix also noticed that the band of armor on Adriana's wrist was glowing. Helix pulled back her sleeve and noticed the small tattoo on her arm was glowing as well. While Adriana, Angie, and Izzy used the bracelet form of the armor that stayed on them, Kimble had it shaped like a watch, Naya like a pair of Spec Ops goggles, and everyone else a tattoo. As Helix looked at it, the tattoo stopped glowing.

"Colonel, what the hell just happened?" Adriana asked.

"I think we just discovered another thing our suits can do," Helix said as the doors opened to reveal several things, one of which was Javik complaining about primitives. Kim smiled before thinking about something.

"_So, we wanted more strength, and the armor gave that to us…what if we want speed?"_ Helix asked Diana.

{You should be able to move much faster, a side effect might be seeing everything moving slower though,} Diana said.

"Alright then," Helix replied before the world slowed down around her.

She smiled before sprinting over to Javik, slowly tapping his shoulder and sprinting to a different spot. Time went back to normal as he turned to look at where he had been tapped from, only to find nothing. Time slowed again as she sprinted back over and whistled to get his attention. The last Prothean turned to find empty air yet again. He sighed before turning back to see Helix standing there with a psychotic smile on her face. Javik stumbled a bit before righting himself. Kim heard Adriana laughing as she stepped off the elevator.

"Do primitives find humor in the torture of others?" Javik asked.

"This is called being an annoyance to an arrogant alien who can't accept that his species is the primitive one," Helix said in response a Dr. Chakwas walked over.

"Colonel Helix, please stop being an annoyance to Javik," she said as Amber finished dressing the wound on an engineer.

"Doc…I'll stop being an annoyance when he stops acting superior to us, and stops trying to shut down our AIs," Helix said as she crossed her arms and glared at Javik.

Amber walked over and looked between the two before grabbing her mother and pulling her out of the way.

"_Can we generate biotics using the suit?"_ Kim asked Diana.

{Yes, but I wouldn't-…}

"[Attention all ships, this is Admiral Keyes, we are being deployed to the Nova galaxy,]" Prepare for transition,]" Helix heard Keyes say.

"You can travel to different galaxies?" Javik asked, slightly impressed.

"Yeah, Precursor tech is impressive like that," Helix said as the ship shook like an older Slipspace engine was being used.

As quickly as it had started, it stopped, meaning that they were now in the Nova galaxy. Helix looked over to see the engineer getting up and heading towards the elevator. She glared at Javik one last time before following him. She grabbed Adriana's arm and dragged her back while she was walking. They left the elevator on the crew deck. John Shepard saw them as they were getting off the elevator. He waved them over before looking back at his data pad.

"What's up Commander?" Adriana asked as Helix looked around to see Luna trying to sneak up on Naya.

Kim moved a bit to block the Spartan from Adriana's line of sight. She stifled a laugh as Naya grabbed Luna's neck before throwing her back a bit, all without looking away from the console she was staring at.

"Well looks like Sovereign wasn't the only Reaper 'Sleeper' in the Nova galaxy," John told them.

"Um...Reapers?" Helix asked, confused.

"The hell are those?" Adriana also asked.

"Um...right...you guys aren't...any way, the Reapers are a race of advanced, genocidal, AIs with bodies the size of our ships," John explained.

"Just send a couple of THORs and we'll be fine," Izzy said as she walked onto the crew deck.

"Reapers are stronger than that."

"Really, they're stronger than THORs?" Izzy asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Well...I think. I've never seen a THOR in action," John admited.

"[Exiting Warp-Space in three...two...one...welcome to the Nova galaxy,]" Joker said over the coms. "[Now launching into Slipspace.]"

Helix walked over to one of the currently empty moniters and switched it to see outside. Helix watched as seconds passed before the blank of Slipspace changed back to normal space. She smiled before noticing something in the distance. The tattoo on her arm glowed as the black spot resolved into the form of a giant, black metal squid. Helix remembered the nightmare she had during the mission with the telepath. She shook her head and walked back over to John as the Normandy cloaked and her tattoo stopped glowing.

"[Reaper sighted, charging up MAC,]" another pilot said over the radio.

"Hey John, what do Reapers look like?" Adriana asked.

"Giant robot squids, why?"

Helix and Adriana looked at each other before going over to the empty moniter. They looked at the spot where the Reaper used to be only to find empty space. Before either of them could sayanything, alarms started blaring.

"[Attention all hands, we're being boarded, damn squid latched onto the Normandy,]" someone said from the cockpit, Helix could hear Joker shouting in rage about squids molesting his ship.

Before anything else happened, Helix grabbed the M6H holstered on her hip before running to the elevator. Just as she got there, it opened and several Husks ran out. Helix shot three ofthem as John sent a shockwave and warp at them before blinking into them and sending out a biotic explosion. John smiled as the cybernetic corpses stayed dead.

"Move out, get these things the hell off our ship!" Helix shouted.

Everyone there shouted yes in some way. Helix and the other GHOSTs that were there stepped onto the elevator first. John and a couple of N7s followed after them. The doors closed as the elevator brought them to the armory. The doors reopened to reveal multiple ODSTs and Reclaimer Alliance Marines **[If I say Reclaimer Alliance instead of just Alliance I mean multiple species, not just humans]** gearing up. One Turian picked up and tossed a rifle to an ODST.

{It's suprising how quickly everyone got over the war,} Diana said to Kim.

_"Well the ones still allowed in the military were our allies during it,"_ Helix responded.

Before everyone was ready, another door opened and several Collectors ran in. One of them threw a grenade. Naya's goggles started glowing as she caught and threw it back before it exploded. What they didn't expect was for it to be a gas grenade.

"SHIT! Gas masks now!" Helix shouted as she grabbed the closest one from the wall. **[The Halo universe does still have gas masks, so I thought of a reason for them to be used.]**

Most of them managed to get masks on, but two Turians, one Asari, and one human didn't. They began to cough and double over before puking up blood. The remaining soldiers exchanged a nervous glance beforetaking out the rest of the Collectors.

"The fuck is this!?" a random ODST shouted.

"It's some kind of advanced biological/chemical warfare weapon. It's impressive how it can effect species that have different systems," a Quarian Marine said.

"The fuck is wrong with you?" a Turian asked.

"What? I just find it impressive that they-..."

"Stow it and get moving," Helix said.

{It appears that this gas is no on every part of the ship. Don't worry though, only 12...sorry 15, people died,}Diana said to Helix.

_"Because that is really comforting,"_ Kim replied.

"[ONI Gamma squad, you have permission to use specialist weaponry,]" Jane Shepard said over the coms.

"Understood, heading there now."

Helix lead the GHOSTs with her to their personal armory. Kim went in first and grabbed her usual two Guardian pistols. She holstered them before grabbing a Prowler and Savager. She looked back to see Izzy grab a Dragonfly and Harbinger while Naya Grabbed a Dragonfly and Prowler. Adriana grabbed a Harbinger and a Daybreaker before grabbing a Dragonfly. Helix looked over and saw several energy grenades. She grabbed them and handed four to each of the GHOSTs with her.

"What now Colonel?" Naya asked.

"Get to the hanger and launch the THOR," Helix said as she and the others left the armory.

Helix heard gunfire coming from all around them. The hanger was four decks below them and the elevators were now disabled. Kim assumed that it was to slow down Collectors and Husks. Helix walked over to an access hatch to lower levels and opened it up. She pointed her guns down the hatch before climbing in and sliding down. She switched on the lights connected to her pistols once she got to the ground. She looked around before motioning for the others to come down also.

"Well, we goin' or not boss?" Izzy said as she ran ahead of the others.

Naya shook her head before counting down from three. At one, Helix saw Izzy running back towards them.

"SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!" she shouted as she duck behind a wall.

Behind her were several Collectors that were firing their partical rifles. Helix threw a grenade as everyone ducked. Kim popped her head out of cover to see how everything was. She saw one Collector put up a barrier that the others hid behind. Helix pulled out a grenade and threw it towards the Collectors. Before any of them could react, it exploded, sending out tendrils of energy that desintegrated any Collectors they hit.

"Take them now," Helix said as she shot multiple Collectors in the head.

Naya ran up and shot several with her Prowler before kicking one into the wall. it dented as the now dead Collector slumped to the floor. Several sniper shots rang out and more Collectors fell. Helix looked over to see one Collector was now glowing.

"We are Harbinger," it said as it threw out a warp.

Helix rolled out of the way as the warp blast hit the wall she had been standing by. She looked back to see a ragged hole where the blast had hit. She turned back to the Collector and glared at it under her gas mask. She pulled a knife out of her boot and threw it as Izzy fired another shot. The bullet hit and destroyed the Collector's biotic shield as the knife immbedded itself in the head of the Collector.

"Lets move," Helix said to the other GHOSTs before noticing something. "Wait...where's Adriana?"

Before either of the other two GHOSTs could answer, the ship shook. Helix went to a terminal and activated its monitor. She saw the space around the ship and switched cameras. Then she saw the Normandy's THOR yanking the giant squid off the Normandy, and the other ships in the group getting their weapons systems ready. The Normandy shook again, this time knocking the GHOSTs off their feet, and the Reaper went flying through space. It stopped and one of its eye's glowed red as it readied its own weapons to fire. before it could, multiple plasma, bullet, and kinetic rounds hit it. Its shields failed almost instantly and the rounds tore it to shreds.

"[Target destroyed, Gamma 4 returning to Normandy,]" Helix heard Adriana say over the coms.

_"Adriana, tell us what you're doing next time,"_ Helix said.

_"Yes ma'am,"_ Adriana replied.

As the three GHOSTs were about to leave, Helix saw one Collector still moving. She was about to shoot it when an energy tomahawk just barely missed her head and sunk into the Collector's. She spun around to see someone from her last mission as an ODST standing there, having just thrown his tomahawk.

"Little warning next time would be nice Loco," Helix said as she crossed her arms.

Loco just shrugged before grabbing his tomahawk and leaving. Naya looked at Helix's mask to make sure it wasn't damaged. She nodded her head when she saw that there was none. The three of them went towards another access hatch and started climbing through the ducts.

_"This is gonna be a long day,"_ Helix thought to herself.

**Me: And there's chapter six.**

**Trin: Are there any ME weapons on par with Halo weapons?**

**Me: Matlock, Revenant, Widow, any Geth pulse weaponry, Collector and Prothean particle weaponry, Carnifax, Claymore, and the Hornet.**

**John (ME): So the heavy hitting weapons?**

**Me: Yup. For future reference, Dreadnaughts are as large as the Infinity, so a stealth Dreadnaught...you'ld only ever even want to build one per government...and even then most wouldn't want to. VR Commando ATA out.**


	7. Pirate Hunting

**Me: Time for the next chapter. Also, aDarkOne, the galaxy is not run by humanity, they-more or less-took the Turian's place in galactic society.**

**Trin: And his other review?**

**Me: Replied to that one in a PM. Now-...**

**Random Cerberus Trooper: On with-...+Sound of an MA5D firing+**

**Me: On with the story. +Put away MA5D+**

"Talking."

"_Thinking."_

"[Electronic communication.]"

{AI intercommunication}

**Pirate Hunting**

[**Nova Galaxy, Orbit above Batarian Slaver/Pirate controlled planet, UNSC Normandy SR3:**]

"Anyone seen Joker?" Helix asked as she helped Jane search for her sister's boyfriend.

"No, but you seen where the SR2 went?" Cortez replied to her.

"That's missing to? Should we check on the Normandy's resident kleptomaniac?"

"Kasumi isn't gonna take the SR2 from Shepard, they are friends you know."

Helix sighed before leaving that hanger. She knew Edi could easily pilot the SR3 on her own, but the AI kept saying that she preferred his company to the UNSC pilots. Helix didn't argue with that as the UNSC trained pilots were nothing like Joker. Helix had become accustumed to the bad jokes that the Normandy's normal pilot would say when anyone walked onto the bridge. As she was thinking about this, John walked into the hanger.

"Anyone seen Garrus, we were supposed to go shoot stuff in the firing range," John said.

"No, but have you seen Joker? He and Jane were supposed to go pick a present for Angel's birthday and he has apparently disappeared."

"Where the fuck is everyone going?"

"How the hell should I know, they're your friends not mine."

"[All ONI Gamma group, team A members report to drop pod hanger,]" someone said over the coms.

"See you later John," Helix said as she ran off.

Helix went through the hallway, not having to worry about squeezing through anyone with the space the hall provided. A warthog could drive around with room to spare. This was proven by two ODSTs and three Alliance Marines that decided to have a race with Mongooses and a Warthog. Helix stopped in front of an airlock and waited two seconds before it opened. She stepped through to find the rest of her team waiting there. Inside was a hologram of Dr. Halsey.

"[Colonel, your team is being sent against another group of Batarian Pirates,]" Halsey said to them.

"Anything we should be looking for?" Helix asked.

"[Stolen Cerberus plans to attack a planet in our home galaxy.]"

"Don't either of those groups know that means a one way trip to hell."

"[It would if an ONI informant hadn't given them the data on multiple things.]"

"Tell me that asshole's dead," Helix said as she clentched a fist.

"[Killed by Spartan II Naomi Sentzke, but he did send the data to a Cerberus stealth frigate before he died. The tracker on the ship stopped transmitting above the planet you're currently patroling.]"

"We'll head down now."

"[I wasn't finished. The tracker's been sending signals randomly from multiple areas.]"

"They're moving the ship to transport the data...smart, Cerberus would think it's one of theirs while everyone else will...what ill they think?"

"[The frigate looks like a normal merchant vessel from the Nova galaxy, it just has a Cerberus paint job.]"

"I assume not the emblem."

"[No. Your mission is to see if there is anything leading to where that ship is going on the planet. IR scans detected multiple heat signatures inside the facility.]"

"We'll get right on it ma'am."

Halsey nodded before her hologram disappeared and every GHOST started getting their armor on. Helix got into her armor and activated her playlist. As much as Luna annoys her, the S-III does come up with some good ideas. Kim smiled as Slipknot's Duality started playing. She grabbed her pisol's, Savager, and Daybreaker before getting inside one of the pods. The countdown started and Kim strapped in. The moment she finished, the timer hit zero and her pod launched. Kim looked around to see three other pods heading down with her. She looked back down just as her pod hit the ground.

She opened the pod and stepped out, Savager at the ready. She was currently at the edge of a clearing. Unfortunatly, she was also in full sight of the Batarian base. She then noticed gunfire coming from it. Helix activated the zoom on her helmet to see a three way fire fight between what looked like Cerberus, Batarians, and Eclipse. Helix remembered how apparently every member of the Eclipse mercenary group sided with the Council Loyalists. The Black Guard of course sided with humanity, half of the Blood Pack stayed out of the fight, and the Blue Suns took both sides. Helix heard the other pods land near her. She waited for everyone to get out and get to her before saying anything.

"We caught a break for once," Helix said as she turned off the zoom. "Looks like Cerberus and Eclipse decided they wanted to raid this place."

"We can sneak in while they're all killing each other," Adriana said.

"Right, no we just need somewhere to get in from."

{There is an open vent on the side of the building facing us that is hidden form all sides in this battle,} Diana explained to her.

"Then that's our target, move out Hell Spawn."

The GHOSTs began moving towards the building. They took cover behind anything they could in order to sneak by any enemy groups. Helix ducked behind a flipped over and damaged beyond repair Mako class vehicle when a Cerberus squad ran past them. Helix cloaked and looked around the corner to see Cerberus Troopers fighting Eclipse Mercenaries in hand to hand combat. She turned back around and motioned her team forward as she kept her Savager trained on the fighting soldiers.

_"Clear,"_ Adriana said over their Mental Link.

Helix stood up and ran towards the vent before anyone noticed her. She jumped into the vent and went to the front of the group before uncloaking. Helix faded back into reality as her team started moving inside the facility. After a few meters, they found a vent that dropped them into a hallway. Slipknot's Dead Memories began playing as Helix dropped out of the vent. She looked around and saw that they were inside what looked like a repurposed factory building.

Adriana dropped out next and ran over to one of the grey airlock doors. Everyone began opening the crates that were scattered around to try and find anything that would lead them to their target. Helix walked to one and heard banging coming from inside it. Everyone ran to her and aimed their weapons at the container as Adriana started opening it. It opened to reveal five human children and one adult. Helix scanned their bio signs to find that they were from the Nova galaxy.

"Are you ok?" she asked the adult.

"Fine, just hoping to get out of this God-forsaken place," he told her.

"...Boss, a word," Adriana said.

Helix got up and went over to her XO as the others kept an eye on the captured humans.

"We don't have the ability to evac them," Adriana whispered.

"I know that Adriana, but we can't just leave them here," Helix whispered in reply.

"I know that, but they'll slow us down and destroy any stealth options we have."

"Alright let me think...we could have someone come and pick them up while we keep searching the facility."

"Sure that'll work? We can't leave them on their own with no defense."

Helix sighed before looking around and spotting a crate with the Alliance emblem on it. She walked over to it and tore it open. Inside were several auto turrets, two Nova galaxy security robots, and three Lancer rifles. She had Diana set up the targeting systems on the bots and turrets before taking one of the rifles to the adult. She handed it to him before activating the turrets and mechs. She then turned back to the group before speaking again.

"Keep those kids safe, we'll be back," Helix said as the GHOSTs went to the next area in the building.

"Are we really going back for them?"

"Unfortunatly no, we'll have a drop ship come and pick them up."

"They won't last long against trained commandos Colonel," Sean said.

"We have to do something or they'll all die," Victor said as Helix sighed.

"I'm gonna regret this," Helix said as she activated her com to the SR3. "This is Colonel Helix, civilians found on planet. They are in need of imediate evac, marking their location now." Kim turned back to her team. "You are all dead if we end up regretting this."

"Understood ma'am, and thank you," Adriana said.

"Let's finish the mission first," Helix said as she started walking again.

{You know you did the right thing Kim,} Diana said to her.

_"If no one dies from it...but you are right. I just hope they make it,"_ Kim said as she opened another door.

On the other side was a Batarian holding a Revenant Machine Gun. The two soldiers stared at each other before the Batarian raised its weapon. Before he could pull the trigger, Helx raised the end of the barrel above her head and punched the alien in its face. It stumbled backwards as it lost its grip on its gun. Kim spun it around and fired it into the pirate until the 'mag' ran out. She then dropped the weapon and pulled her Savager back out. She looked around to see no other soldiers before motioning for the others to come in. Adriana took two steps forward before being grabbed by an invisible force that suddenly reformed into a lightly armored Batarian. Adriana struggled to get out of the Batarian's grip.

"Let go of me!" she shouted at it while it used her as a human shield.

Adriana continued to srtuggle. During that, she imagined impaling the Batarian on multiple spikes. She continued to struggle until she noticed that her arms were no longer covered in armor. The Batarian noticed as well, but ignored it...unitl the armor that had pelled back reformed into spike on Adriana's back that scewered the alien. The spikes retracted and reformed as the usual armor on Adriana's arms. Only then did she notice that the orange parts of her armor were glowing.

"How the hell did you do that!?" Victor asked, completely shocked.

"Focus on the damn infiltrators first," Helix said as she shot a shimmer multiple times.

It reformed into a Batarian in the same armor as the one Adriana killed. She saw several other shimmers that the rest of the team also shot. These Batarians seemed to be using armor that was lower grade than even the standard Hegemony soldier. Adriana's armor glowed again as a blade formed above her fist. She stabbed at a shimmer and was rewarded by the alien's blood splaterring onto her armor.

_"This shouldn't take long at all,"_ Helix thought as she grabbed one of the shimmers by its neck.

* * *

Captain Jane Shepard was furious.

After looking at Naya's cameras, she found out that Luna and Marissa of the UNSC Hera's Wrath had managed to get Liara, Garrus, Wrex, and Dr. Chakwas to help them kidnap Joker and steal the SR2, the vehicle that was supposed to be made into her personal ship. What pissed her off further was that Angel had helped. Her own baby sister had caused her pilot to get taken to who knows where by a SPARTAN III and THOR pilot.

"Sis, you really should calm down," John said from behind the biotic barrier that he, Taylor, Javik, and Amber had created.

"Calm down!? CALM DOWN!? Our baby sister just took our pilot and old ship on a damn joy ride and you want me to calm down!?" Jane yelled at them as another wall panel went flying across the room.

"Um, all in favor of running for our lives say aye," Kelly Chambers said as she hid with the rest of the group that was on the CIC.

"Protheans do not run," Javik said as a piece of Titanium-A went through the barrier and just barely missed his head before getting stuck in a wall. "But they do make strategic withdraws."

Everyone ran to the elevators or access hatches to let Jane finish her venting. Kelly praying for Angel's safety, where ever she was.

* * *

"Wow," Angel said from the co-pilot seat of the SR2.

"What?" Joker asked.

"I just felt a disturbence in the force-..."

"Really? Star Wars?"

"Ignoring that. As if I'm in extremely grave danger right now."

* * *

Just like Helix had thought, the fight against the Batarian infiltrators didn't last very long. They even managed to find several data packets refering to a base on a Batarian colony world, and that that was where the ship was heading. As they left for the evaczone, Helix checked to see if the captured humans had made it. All of them had with the adult only suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg, one that he would make a full recovery from. Kim shuddered at the thought of what might have happened had she left them to fend for themselves.

She looked back up to see the GHOSTs prototype Precursor tech transport landing. The ship resembled an old American drone prototype that was scrapped before it was even used **[Look up the Maelstrom from Fuse]**. Along side it was one of their prototype fighters. It also resembledan old US Air Force combat vehicle, though this one was scrapped due to cost **[Look up Whistler from Fuse]**. Helix relaxed as they headed back to the Normandy SR3, completly unaware of the enraged super biotic in the CIC.

**Me: Well that's it.**

**Trin: Remember to check out Lemanruss669's newest story for more data on what the group on the SR2 is doing.**

**Me: That's all for now, VR Commando ATA out.**


	8. Colonial Destruction (part 1)

**Me: Time for chapter eight.**

**Trin: I talked Trey into introducing the GHOSTs to the UNSC and Reclaimer Alliance.**

**Me: Still think it would be better for them to stay a rumor and myth.**

**Helix: That helped in our missions.**

**Trin: And now you can get back up when you need it.**

**Helix: ...Have I told you how much I hate your sister?**

**Me: Yes, now on-...**

**Random Cerberus Phantom: On with-...+Random N7 Shadow walks in+ +Looks at Shadow before pulling out blade as the Shadow does same+**

**Me: Ninja fight! Someone grab popcorn, now on with the story.**

"Talking."

"_Thinking."_

"[Electronic communication.]"

{AI intercommunication}

**Colonial Destruction (Part 1: Down Time)**

[**Nova Galaxy, Deep space, Eternal Salvation Defense force:**]

"Well, monitor five is still busted...I don't think there's anything we can do to fix it," an Alliance technician said.

"Yeah, great job sis, you broke someone's workstation," John said as Jane rubbed the back of her head.

"That's coming out of my pay, isn't it?" Jane asked.

"Probabaly Captain," Helix said, bandages still across her face diagnolly and covering her left eye.

When the GHOSTs had gotten back onto the Normandy, Helix went to meet with Jane. Unfortunatly, no one told her that Jane was having a melt down and throwing everything around using her biotics. As soon as Kim stepped onto the CIC, a part of the wall was throw at her. She managed to move enough that it didn't take off her head, but it still hit her. As soon as that happened, Helix grabbed at her face. Luckily for everyone else on the Normandy, that snapped Jane out of her frenzy. While helix hadsurvived, her left eye hadn't. The wall had completely cut through, damaging the eye beyond repair...for most people. Apparently the armor could also heal that, though it wouldn't look the same as it used to. She would still have to wear the bandages until the cybernetic replacements came in as to not make anyone suspicious.

"Again, sorry about your eye," Jane said for the 15th time.

"You're the one paying for the replacement, so I'll take that as your apology."

"Speaking of that replacement," Amber said as she walked into the CIC, "I have it right here."

Amber handed a box to Helix who opened it to see the compontents needed to replace her eye with the cybernetic one. Helix nodded before taking it and leaving. Amber was about to follow when Jane stopped her. Helix smiled as the doors of the elevator closed.

{You should put that where no one will find it,} Diana said as Helix removed the bandages from her head.

"I know, just glad to be rid of that fucking gauss tape," Helix said as she held said object in her hand. "I wonder what my eye looks like now?"

{You could go to the-...}

Before Diana could finish, the doors opened to reveal Adriana standing there, a crate of spray cans in her hands. She looked up to see her CO and smiled.

"You have a purple eye now?" Adriana asked.

"What?"

Adriana set down the crate before pulling out a small mirror, one Helix had seen her use to peek around corners multiple times. She held the mirror up to Helix's face so that the Colonel could see. Helix looked at her reflection to see her old emerald green right eye, but her left eye, like Adriana had said, was now a deep violet color.

"Wow," Kim said as she looked at her reflection before noticing something else.

Though everything was healed, there was now a scar running across her entire face. Helix held her hand to her face as she touched the new scar. She shook her head before handing Adriana her mirror back. Before she left Heilx asked Adriana where she was bringing those spray cans.

"While the cat's away,the mice will play," Adriana said with her usual psychotic smile.

"Forget I asked," Helix said as she went to her room.

Helix shut the door behind her and locked it before setting an alarm and collapsing on her bed asleep.

* * *

Adriana was preping a Pelican to leave as Dalton walked into the hanger, carrying the rest of her supplies and a Husky following behind him. Adriana remembered Helix telling her about being allowed to bring her pet onto the Normandy. She may not like dogs much, but she had to admit that the Husky was a beautiful animal **[Anyone who has actually seen a Husky can attest to that]**.

"Why is Cerberus following you...and why has the Colonel not renamed him?" Adriana said.

"To help with the prank, and I have know idea," Brooks replied.

"What ever, lets just go before anyone finds out what we're doing."

Dalton nodded before whistling for Kim's dog. He ran past Dalton and stopped in front of Adriana before sniffing the air. He then turned toward an empty space inside the Pelican and started growling. Before either GHOST could say anything Cerberus ran up and bit the invisible person. Kasumi yelled in pain as the dog stayed latched to her leg for an entire minute before letting go and calmly walking over to Dalton, who petted the dog.

* * *

Helix rolled over in her sleep before saying one thing, "Good boy."

* * *

"Try and stay off that leg for a while," Amber said to Kasumi after she finished dressing the Japanese woman's wounds.

"Alrigh, alright Shepard," Goto replied.

"Amber _Chakwas_, not _Shepard_."

"Right, sorry."

"Where do you think they're going?" Amber asked as she watched the Pelican leave.

"Not sure, I was trying to find out when that damn mutt attacked me."

* * *

Helix instantly bolted up right in her sleep. She looked around and grabbed her pistol before running out of her room and to the hanger. Once she got there everyone decided to stare at her. She then said one thing.

"Who called my dog a 'damn mutt'?"

* * *

Jane woke up straped down on a bed in the med bay with John on the bed next to hers, still asleep and also strapped down. Jane tought for a second before remembering why they were here. Apparently Angel and the group with her were on some bar crawl around the galaxy, and were using the SR2 for it, all of this found out from a video on youtube. Jane went berserk as John laughed at the video...until the end at least. After that he also went ballistic and they nearly wreck the enire deck five area. She looked around and saw a UNSC medic come in.

"You aren't going to go berserk again are you?" the medic asked her.

"No I'm no-..." Jane was interrupted by Amber bursting in with an unconcious, and apparently badly injured, Kasumi draped over her shoulder. "Um...?"

"She insulted Helix's dog," Amber said as she set Kasumi down and her body stopped glowing.

"Uh...what...?" John said as he woke up.

He looked around for a bit before remembering where he was and why he was there.

"I'm going to kill Joker next time I see him."

"We still need our pilot John," Jane said to her brother.

"...Fine...I'll just rip off one of his arms and one of his legs."

"Angel would be pissed at you."

"Fine...I won't do anything more than break a few bones."

"...That's the best I'm getting from you isn't it?"

"Take it or leave it sis."

"Fine...now can someone undo our straps?" Jane asked as Helix walked in.

Jane looked at her and grimaced. Kim's scar was caused by her and she now had two different colored eyes. She couldn't really face Helix still.

"Oh would you stop the pity party already Captain? Its getting annoying," Helix said as she undid the straps holding down John and Jane.

The twins stood up and went back to where they were before seeing the video. Helix sighed as she went back to the firing range to get some practice in. She found an Alliance N7 Shadow practicing with a sniper. Helix walked over to the armory and pulled out a BR85. She walked up next to the N7 soldier and began firing at the holographic targets that would appear. She kept doing this for three hours.

* * *

"I'm telling you we should've brought Izzy," Dalton said as he attempted to hack through the lock on Luna's door. "And why the hell are you and Cerberus waiting back there?"

"Oh, no reason," Adriana said as she scratched behind Cerberus' ears.

Dalton sighed as he input another code. Suddenly the device he was using flashed green, signaling that the door was now unlocked. He got up and opened the door, only for a cat to jump on his face and start clawing at it. Dalton began swearing up a storm and kept saying this was why he hates cats.

As Dalton kept Lilith busy, Adriana and Cerberus walked into Luna's room, Adriana whistling as she passed Brooks. Adriana stepped in and pulled out her spray cans before getting to work. Her smile stayed plastered on her face as she emptied all of her spray cans in intricate, annoying, and complex designs that covered everything in the room. She then set up the paint bomb trap for when Luna came back into her room.

{Alright, trigger is now keyed to Luna's specific DNA. I hope you know what you're doing Adriana,} Max said to Adriana in her usual concerned big sister style.

"I do, now lets leave before anyone spots us," Adriana said as she turned around.

As she did, she saw Lilith sail past her head and land feet first on Luna's bed. She turned towards Dalton to see his face bleeding from more scratch marks than she tought could fit on one face and reaching for his pistol. She ran over to him and started trying to pull him away from the area as Cerberus latched onto his pant leg and tried to help pull.

"Its not worth it come on," Adriana said as she struggled to pull the former Spartan IV away.

"Just one shot, that's all it'll take. Just one tiny little trigger squeeze and no more cat," Dalton said.

Adriana sighed as her bracelet started to glow. She instantly lifted up Dalton and slammed him head first back into the ground. He instantly blacked out as Adriana then lifted him on one of her shoulders and carried him to the Pelican. She loaded him into the Pelican and took off for the Normandy.

"Hope you like your surprise Luna," Adriana said.

* * *

Across the galaxy, in some pub on Thessia, Luna sneezed.

* * *

"How the hell did I lose to you?" the N7 Shadow shouted at Helix after seeing their scores.

"It's because I'm better at this than you are, simple as that," Helix replied as she cleared her gun and put it back on the rack.

"...Try beating me at sword fighting."

"Do I look like a damn ninja to you?"

"So I win."

"Whatever," Helix said as she left the firing range.

She went back to her room to put together some more models she recently bought. On her way there, she ran into Adriana. Kim raised an eyebrow at the fact that Dalton was unconcious and drapped over her shoulder.

"Wanna help me pull a prank on him before he wakes up Colonel?" Adriana asked her.

"...Sure, why not," Helix replied as she followed her team mate.

**Me: Well...I was not expecting Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow to appear with me, but they did, and of course they joined in the fight between the N7 Shadow and Cerberus Phantom.**

**Trin: Trey's room is now in shreds with the blood of an evil ninja and an indoctrinated ninja covering the floor. Hey Helix, do you hate your new eye?**

**Helix: I actually like my new eye.**

**Me: ...No trying to make them match.**

**Helix: Wasn't planning to.**

**Me: Well that's it, leave a review before exitting this story. VR Commando ATA out.**


	9. Colonial Destruction (part 2)

**Me: Time for chapter 9, and what happened to all the reviewers? I like knowing what you guys think of it, be it bad or good. And man I missed Microsoft Word.**

**Trin: He got so pissed at Word Pad.**

**Helix: Wow…you had to use that?**

**Me: YOU WERE THERE!**

**Helix: You really thought I was paying attention to what you were using?**

**Me: Whatever, on with-…**

**Miranda Lawson: On with-…+Gunshot rings out+**

**Me: +Puts away Halo CE Magnum+ On with the story…I'm pretty sure that was a clone.**

"Talking."

"_Thinking."_

"[Electronic communication.]"

{AI intercommunication}

**Colonial Destruction (Part 2: The Relay)**

[**Nova Galaxy, Salvation Defense Force, In orbit above Batarian Hegemony controlled planet:**]

"Again, we're just trying to get permission to deploy a single squad to the surface in order to find a group of pirates that stole something from Cerberus, which they stole from the UNSC," Joker's co-pilot, Terra Jones said in annoyance. "We're not here to kill civilians, wag war, or obliterate your planet."

"[The Hegemony doesn't want the UNSC anywhere near their planets,]" the Batarian on the other side of the com said.

Terra sighed as she looked at the Captain. Jane sighed before nodding. Terra pressed mute on the Batarian before activating a different com. The view screen showed a squad of ODSTs preparing to deploy to the surface.

"ODST team Delta, you are cleared for deployment," Terra said before returning to the Batarian. "Fuck you and your Hegemony."

Jane cleared her throat behind her.

"…Fine…we are understanding of the Hegemony's decision and will respect it."

The Batarian's image disappeared. Terra leaned back in her seat before leaning her head further back to see Jane. Terra smiled once before returning to her normal position. She cracked her fingers before getting back to the readings from the Mass Relay. Jane had ordered her to keep an eye on it after the energy readings started spiking. Both she and John had a bad feeling about it.

"Hey Captain, what was with the other deployment?"

Jane froze. She never liked lying to her crew, but that's why she had John. As usual, he stepped in and covered it up, having been told about the GHOSTs, after Jane had begged Halsey, he knew that she needed help with keeping them secret.

"Science team checking out that station near the Relay," John said.

"Oh really? Well I saw-…"

"ONI Op," someone said as they walked up to the twins.

Terra instantly shut up as John and Jane turned to see someone in the usual black dress uniform of an ONI Spook. The person's name tag said Dare.

* * *

"Kim, how the hell do we get ourselves into these messes?" Adriana asked as she ducked under another Widow Rifle shot.

"Just get moving," Helix replied before firing at an exposed pipe above the Indoctrinated forces before them.

As soon as the science team had landed, contact was lost between them and the Normandy. Hell Spawn was already on their way to the station, so Diana informed them of the occurrence. Helix instantly ordered every GHOST with her to ready their weapons. What the team found when they landed, were the corpses of the science team, wounds still bleeding. Of course when Helix tried to check them, gunfire started. It wasn't so bad at first, since the first group was only using Avenger rifles, but then they started using Mavericks and other 'heavy-hitter' weaponry.

"Sean, 'round-a-bout' now," Helix ordered.

The GHOST smiled beneath his helmet before becoming invisible to all but his fellow GHOSTs. Helix overcharged her shields before sticking her head out to look around. She saw five Salarian snipers with Widows on a catwalk above them, seven Batarian soldiers with Revenants on the ground with them, and ten Asari Commandos with Mavericks behind them. Helix ducked back behind cover when her shields broke.

"22 targets, tag 'em and toss 'em Sean," Helix said.

"On it," the scout said as two Indoctrinated soldiers were stuck with grenades and tossed towards their allies.

Helix leaned out of cover to see the two soldiers explode and take most of the other troops with them. One of them noticed her and attempted to fire, but was stopped as Helix lifted her Guardian and fired three shots into her head. The Reaper controlled Asari fell as the last controlled Batarian attempted to fire at her. Helix's suit began to glow as she engaged the speed enhancement. Before the Batarian had even finished raising his weapon, Helix snapped his neck. The GHOST dropped the corpse as her suit stopped glowing.

"Area clear, let's move," Helix called out to the others.

Helix holstered her Guardian before pulling out her Savager. She looked around and spotted an undamaged terminal to the left. She pointed to it and Adriana got to work.

* * *

"Sir, multiple contacts just outside the main complex," an ODST Corporal said to Captain O'Brien.

"I see them Corporal," Wayne said as he deactivated his helmet's zoom. "They're not going near this area, we sneak in through there, find the data, and leave."

"Then what the hell are we waiting for?" Lance Corporal Markus Holland said.

"Loco and Shocker are setting up the distraction. We're waiting for their sign-…"

The Captain was interrupted by an explosion off in the distance. He turned to see a mushroom cloud of smoke forming. He laughed a bit before running towards the building as the Batarians ran towards the smoke cloud.

* * *

"Think we could use the SR2 as a…rapid deployment vehicle?" Jane asked as she turned off the coms.

She had just found out that the SR2 was heading towards Illium, with a new cat based paint job. The last part was found out through a picture that cat loving bitch herself sent Jane. She then decided that she could use her Alliance Spectre **[A/N]** status to block off Illium from them. Now she just had to wait.

"Probably," John said as he continued to keep the small orb of biotic energy stable and nondestructive.

Samara had taught him how it worked, but she couldn't teach him how to do it. He managed to teach himself, but he still had to be careful to make sure it was kept as the small nondestructive orb in his hands. It actually helped in how much patience he had.

"I mean, the damn thing fits in the SR3's hanger, and let's face it, the SR3 can't go to as many places as the SR2. It's just too big."

"Yep, think any of the other N7 biotics could do this?"

"…Doubt it. I don't think they have the fine controls like us," Jane said as she made and orb of her own and started tossing it between her hands.

* * *

"What the hell is this?" Helix asked as she stepped into the control room.

Inside were the usual items in a control room, but on the main monitor was a countdown to something. Off to the left was a doorway of green energy. Adriana walked up and stuck her hand through it. She pulled it back to see nothing was wrong with it. Her armor peeled back as she then stuck her hand through again. She pulled back once more and found nothing wrong with it.

"Ok, how about we see what's on the other side of door number one?" Adriana asked as Helix continued to stare at the countdown.

{Kim, that's a timer for the Reapers arrival, and it's only got another hour,} Diana shouted.

"Shit, any ideas?" Helix asked.

{They're using the relay next to this station to get here. We destroy that and they can't get here.}

"Why not deactivate it?"

{These are the Reaper's creations; they'll just reactivate it as soon as it's deactivated.}

"Alright, I doubt the Normandy, or anyone else in the fleet, will willingly destroy a Mass Relay. We'll have to deal with this ourselves," Kim said as she contacted Overstrike team. "Brooks, get your team geared up ASAP, we're blowing up a Relay."

"[On our way, we'll bring Big Boy,]" Dalton said, using his nickname for the small explosives they had that were capable of tearing even a Dreadnaught in half.

"Good, we'll need it, Dawson out," she said before cutting the coms.

She walked over to the controls for the hanger and opened it. Mass Effect tech shields held the atmosphere inside the station while holding back the void of space. Helix looked closely to see an ambush being set up. She tried to com Overstrike as the hologram of a Reaper appeared in the center of the room.

"What the hell?" Adriana asked.

"[Who are you?]" it asked.

"…Sean you owe me 50 creds," Adriana said.

"Fuck," the other GHOST said as he transferred the money to her.

"I'm ONI Operative Colonel Helix, what are you?" Helix said, she glanced over at the monitors to see Overstrike getting closer.

"_Ambush inside the hanger, be ready,"_ Helix said over the team's mental link.

"_Understood,"_ Dalton said.

"[I am Harbinger,]" the Reaper said.

Kim turned away from the hologram for a second and put her hand to her ear, making sure it looked like she was on coms.

"Diana, any data on this thing?" Helix asked.

"[Slight data from Captain Shepard's logs,]" the AI said over standard Systems Alliance coms. "[Supposedly this Reaper is the one controlling all Collectors and the one in command of the other Reapers.]"

"[That is correct, your Systems Alliance communications are easily hacked.]"

"[Damn, he's in the system Colonel, we can't get him out,]" Diana said.

Helix could feel that she was trying hard not to break character and laugh. The way she was talking might've had even her convinced if she didn't already know Diana was an AI. Helix turned back to the hologram and reached up to remove her helmet. It disconnected like a normal helmet and revealed her, now scarred, face and different colored eyes.

"[We have harvested organics for more cycles than your mind can comprehend. We will not be stopped by a defiant race that is new to the galactic community. We are your salvation through destruction.]"

"I may not believe in God, but I doubt you're him," Helix said as Adriana shrugged.

"[You will fail. We will return to the galaxy and destroy you and all advanced races,]" the Reaper said before its hologram disappeared.

{You know how annoying acting like a random Com Spec was? I am never doing that again,} Diana said.

"_Hopefully you won't have to do it again,"_ Kim said as gunfire destroyed the cameras in the hanger.

Kim walked over to the doors and crossed her arms as it opened to reveal Overstrike. Her helmet reformed over her head as it disappeared from her side. Dalton held up Big Boy, and Helix quickly snatched it from him.

"Great job Brooks, now we don't have the cameras to keep track of the hanger," Helix said as she went to another door that was labeled escape pods.

The other GHOSTs attempted to follow her, but she stopped them.

"It's better if only I go," Helix said.

"There a reason for that Colonel?" Adriana asked.

"The races of the Reclaimer Alliance need Mass Relays for their FTL still. This is still their galaxy, their laws, and last I checked, destroying a Relay was the worst thing anyone could do," Helix said as she sealed the pod. "Now get out of here. This is gonna be one hell of an explosion."

"[We'll warn the fleet,]" Adriana said over the coms. "[Good luck Colonel, Houser out.]"

"[I'll take care of the team, don't worry Colonel,]" Victor said.

"Good, now go."

"[Understood, Garret signing off.]"

Helix smiled before walking over to the control panel for the pod. She pressed a few buttons and it launched. She pressed a few more and the pod started heading towards the Relay. Helix looked around to see that there was a monitor that showed what was behind her. She looked at it to see a small light leave the station and speed towards the Normandy. During that, another light went up from the surface towards the SR3. As these disappeared inside the ship, others created slipspace portals before them and launched into the extra dimensional portals. Helix sighed as she turned back to see the pod was now close enough to the Relay for her to spacewalk the rest of the way.

{The suit has thruster built into the boots for these occasions,} Diana said. {Now need to worry about fuel, they run of plasma energy so we have an infinite supply.}

"O2?" Helix asked.

{We can survive in vacuum for two years if required.}

"…How the hell does that work?"

{The Precursors were a transentient race. In layman's terms, gods, they could do anything they wanted.}

"How did the Forerunners beat them?"

{Precursors may have been immortal, but they weren't invincible. They only lived forever if they weren't killed by something. And Forerunners were only one advancement tier below them.}

"…Damn…well, at least my nervousness about this is cured," Helix said as she disengaged the fail safes and opened the airlock.

Helix was launched out as she and all the air in the ship were violently pulled out into the vacuum of space. Kim spun twice before the thrusters in her boots activated and allowed her to right herself. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes before opening them again and launching towards the Relay, Big Boy held in her arms like a football. Helix sped towards the silver tuning fork like object, slowing when she was five meters from the Relay. She spun herself and hit the object feet first. She planted Big Boy as her HUD displayed a warning. She turned around to see the SR3 leaving through a slipspace portal. She also saw multiple Batarian ships leaving the planet. Helix was about to let them use the Relay when the central rings started spinning. She looked at her timer to see it was at less than 30 seconds.

{DETONATE BIG BOY NOW!} Diana shouted at her.

Helix threw Big Boy onto the Relay and jumped, activating her thrusters on max as she did. She then held up her hand and activated the suit's built in detonator.

"Gods forgive me," Helix said, not quite sure why she did, before clenching her fist.

Unlike in old vids form Earth, space had no sound. You could only hear something if you were on a com or if you had the sound emulators running. Helix had neither.

She didn't hear as the detonator and Big Boy both beeped. She didn't hear the device explode, causing the Relay to explode with it. She didn't hear the terrified screams of the people she had condemned to death from the radiation and energy burst the Relay's destruction created. She only turned to see the blue and red energy cascade out and destroy everything in its path. She watched as the radiation and energy burnt everything on the nearby planets to ash.

{Anti-radiation and energy burst protocols activated,}Diana said, the only thing beside herself that Helix could hear.

"_What have I done?"_ Helix thought to herself as she blacked out.

* * *

Several hours later, the SR3 appeared and picked her up. Jane Shepard checked to see if she was still alive before ordering Helix removed from her armor and put in confinement. The soldiers around her looked between each other before following her order. John Shepard watched as they removed the armor from Kim, Diana having allowed it, and dragged her to a single room before sealing her in it.

"Damnit," both Shepards said, know what might now happen to her because of this.

**Me: Hell of a chapter huh? A/N-Basically the Reclaimer Alliance is the new version of the Citadel Council. Works the same way, with most of the same laws, only with a representative for every space faring race that has its own government and two human representatives, one for the UNSC and one for the Systems Alliance. Spectres still hold the same position as well. No this isn't the ending, in case anyone was wondering, this was just the climax.**

**Trin: …What the hell does the climax mean?**

**Me: Peak of the story in a book, or in this case fanfiction. I thought I told you this already?**

**Trin: Artist, not writer.**

**Me: …Right…Helix any comments?**

**Helix: I don't want to talk about it…ever.**

**Me: Got it. Well I want to know what you guys thought. Leave a comment/review. VR Commando ATA out.**


	10. Trials and Errors

**Me: Here's chapter 10 for all of you.**

**Trin: Well…time for Helix's tribunal.**

**Helix: I hate you both.**

**Trin: Why me? He's the one that made you do that.**

**Me: Love you to sis. On with-…**

**Random Reaper: On with-…+Alliance THOR Mekkusūtsu cuts Reaper in half with blade+**

**Me: On with the story!**

"Talking."

"_Thinking."_

"[Electronic communication.]"

{AI intercommunication}

**Trials and Errors**

[**Nova Galaxy, Systems Alliance HQ in London, Military Tribunal Court:**]

Helix looked around, cuffs on her hands and shackles around her legs.

To her left and right were black armored S-IVs. Behind her was the exit, guarded by another pair of S-IVs. Though that pair had two N7 Paladins with them. A pair of N7 Shadows had come into the room with her, but she had lost track of them. She had also lost count of the total number of guards. All around her were military leaders of the Reclaimer Alliance and several civilian leaders as well. The other GHOSTs and Director Halsey were mixed with the crowds.

Kim looked back forward to see several Admirals enter the room. Two of them she recognized as Admiral Anderson and Admiral Hackett. The others were random Admirals from every species that was part of the Reclaimer Alliance. They took their seats as the guards removed her restraints.

"Colonel Kim Dawson, ONI Spec Ops Team Gamma-1, codename Helix. Do you know why you are here?" the Batarian asked, rage visible in his voice and body language.

"For doing my job," Kim said as she stared him in the face. "Had I not destroyed the Relay at that moment, the Reapers would have gotten through and the colonists would have all died either way."

"How do you know that-…"

"Do you have evidence of this claim?" The Quarian Admiral said.

"Yes, my team and personal AI all-…"

"How do we know your AI wasn't hacked by these terrorist at the Relay station?"

"Diana is a Precursor AI. Her being hacked is as possible as the Flood sitting down and having tea with anything that isn't Precursor," Helix said.

"Do you have anything else to say Colonel?" Hackett asked.

"These isn't anything that I should have to say. And last I checked, the Alliance didn't have jurisdiction over ONI."

"True, but we looked up your squad, they don't exist. ONI can't help you."

"…"

"Look up ONI files labeled GHOSTs. Passcode A-7-X," Halsey said from where she sat.

"It appears the Director of ONI herself has decided to…grace us with her presence," the Batarian Admiral said.

Only he had not realized what she just said truly meant. Everyone in the room began to say different things, some of the guards even backed away from her by a small amount.

"GHOSTs…but I thought they were a myth," Anderson said, both surprised and impressed.

"We're real," Helix said.

"This is obviously a ploy to allow this soldier to live," the Batarian Admiral said.

"Then you shouldn't have any problems with looking up the data now will you?" Helix asked.

The Batarian growled before looking up the data. The first thing that popped up on the screen for the Admirals were three data files. One was labeled 'Personnel,' the second was 'Equipment,' and the last was labeled 'Combat Records.' The Batarian Admiral opened the first file and saw headshot pictures of each of the GHOSTs. The first one on the list was Kim. The Batarian opened it and read it out loud.

"Alright, 'GHOST CO: Colonel Kim Dawson. Codename Helix. Former ODST. Personal Notes: Operative Helix possesses a brain deformity that allows her to see the world as an AI does. She is the only GHOST that doesn't use their weapons, and the only one that uses a code name. Personality could be problematic for Black Ops missions, keep an eye on her for now. Additional note: Operative Helix no longer requires surveillance on how she will affect Black Ops missions. Operative Helix is also extremely loyal to her fellow soldiers and would sacrifice herself if it meant they would live. Should operative Helix go turncoat, we would lose the other GHOSTs within hours, if not minutes. Additional note: Operative Helix seems to be figuring out and mastering everything that the suits can do at a much quicker rate than any of the other GHOSTs.' And how do we know this wasn't fabricated?"

"The Combat Records? If you don't think any of that is real there are only a few other ways I can prove it is."

"Unfortunately, these seem to have a higher classification level, you'll have to find some other way to prove your claims."

"Fine," Helix said as her tattoo started glowing.

She breathed in once before breaking off the shackles and cuffs. Several guards instantly pointed their weapons at her as the two Shadows brought their blades to her throat. Helix raised her hands before smiling. Kim looked at the two N7s as they lowered their blades slightly.

"Spartans are also able to break free of those," the Quarian said. "You will have to prove it some other way.

"My file says I don't have biotics, GHOSTs are able to give themselves biotics…temporarily at least," Helix said.

{Helix you really don't want to do that. It damages your body,} Diana told her.

"_Can I heal from it with the suit?"_ Kim asked.

{Well…yes…even with this much of it, but-…}

"_Then I'm doing it."_

Helix concentrated as her tattoo began to glow purple instead of its usual orange. Blood began to drip from her nose as she raised her arm, now covered in a biotic aura, and threw a warp at an empty wall. Helix smiled before collapsing onto the floor. The Shadows began to check on her as the light from her tattoo changed from purple to green. A few seconds later, Helix was slowly rising from the ground. One of the S-IV guards kept her steady as she sent a smile at the Admirals.

"How…was…that?" Kim said, her nose still bleeding.

"I think you nearly killed yourself proving what you were…are," the Turian Admiral said.

"Thank…you…sir."

One of the N7s brought a chair to her as she sat down, completely exhausted. She brought one of her hands to her nose to wipe away the blood.

{You're lucky that didn't do anything more than exhaust you…though I can't say I was expecting the bleeding. No other damage to your body if you're wondering,} Diana said.

"Well…I hate to admit it…but that does seem like something the UNSC's ONI would do," the Batarian Admiral said, anger still on his face.

"Unfortunately for you, ONI can't help you much with the destruction of an entire solar system," Hackett said.

"Taking your mission accomplishments into account, your punishments will be lessened," Anderson said.

The Admirals looked at the data on their personal screens as Helix sat there waiting for their verdict. Anderson sighed as Hackett nodded his head, regret on his face. The Batarian smiled and the Turian sighed, seemingly not sure whether what they had decided was good or not. The Quarian's helmet hid her expression.

"This court has come to a decision. ONI Operative Kim 'Helix' Dawson, you are here-by relieved of duty, your troops will be put under the command of your XO, Captain Victor Garret. An investigation will be made to see if no alternative was usable when you destroyed the Relay. Should it be discovered that you had no other choice; you will be reinstated, though on a probation period. You will also be under the command of you former subordinates. Upon completion of this probation period, a tribunal will be held to determine whether or not you will be given your former rank. This decision is final. Court adjourned," the Quarian Admiral said.

Helix was led to the door, where the other GHOSTs stood waiting for her. Her guards removed what was left of her restraints before leaving. Helix looked at the others and smiled.

"I'll keep everything running like a well-oiled machine Colonel," Garret said, as they went to a tram center.

"I'm not even military right now Victor, but thanks," Kim said.

"Hey don't worry Helix, they can't keep you out of ONI," Halsey said as she walked up to them.

"Doc?"

"The UEG President doesn't even have control of ONI."

"Meaning what Ma'am?"

"Operative Kim 'Helix' Dawson, welcome to ONI GHOST squad," Halsey said.

"Thank you ma'am," Helix said as she shook Halsey's prosthetic hand.

"Welcome back ma'am," Garret said.

"Shortest fucking duty relieve ever," Dalton said as he handed Izzy 50 creds.

"I'm still not military. I'm basically counted a liaison until I get my official rank back," Helix said as she took the ONI Operative rank symbol from Halsey.

Halsey nodded her head before walking over to a group of S-IIs in black armor. Kim noticed a blue Forerunner 'Reclaimer' symbol on the right shoulder of each of them. Helix smiled as she turned and got on the tram with the other GHOSTs.

"Garret, remind me to get Halsey a be-…wait…no, remind me to buy her some coffee," Helix said with a laugh.

"You got it, Operator Dawson," Garret said.

"Don't push it."

"Yes ma'am."

Helix sat down as the tram came to a stop. The GHOSTs got out and saw the SR2 docked in front of them, being repainted again. She looked to her left to see Angel Shepard standing in front of Moreau with her hands up, and her older brother being held back by two ODSTs, his body glowing with biotic energy. Helix took a step forward and almost lost her head to a warp. She turned right to see Luna running and laughing as Jane chased her, blinking to catch up to the S-III at times. She spotted Marissa, Chakwas, and some Japanese teenage girl tending to Wrex and Garrus, both of having several new scars.

"How about we avoid that and just get onto the Normandy?" Garret asked.

"Agreed, try not to get hit," Helix said as her tattoo glowed orange.

She ran forward, her speed increased, and made it onto the SR2 within a second. She turned to see the other GHOSTs catch up to her after another second. Helix opened the airlock and stepped inside.

"_Hey, didn't you say once that we could use the armor to teleport?"_ Helix asked Diana.

{You need all of the armor for that…give me a second,} Diana replied to her.

After ten seconds, an ODST came out of the elevator, carrying Helix's armor.

"I can't believe the GHOSTs are real," he said as he set Helix's armor on the floor in front of her. "First the Spartans now you guys, the hell did I even join the 105th for?"

"To do what needed to be done and kick Covie ass," Helix said as she picked up the armor.

"True…holy shit," the trooper said as Helix's armor reformed around her.

"Precursor tech," Helix said as her helmet folded back.

She smiled at her team before disappearing in a flash of light and reappearing in the SR2's mess area. She walked over to the small kitchen and began making something to eat.

{You know, we still won't be going anywhere until the SR2 is finished with its upgrades and repaint, and the SR3 is finished with its repairs,} Diana said.

"I know," Kim said as one of the Alliance marines there with her just stared at her in shock.

[**Three weeks later**]

"Repairs to the SR3 have been completed. The SR2 is now as stealthy, if not stealthier than ONI Prowlers, faster than the new ONI Slopes to," Dave said as he led Jane through the SR3's hanger, which held the SR2. "The SR2 now has point defense guns that can be controlled manually be soldiers inside the ship, or by the AI in the ship. Still can't believe that this is your personal ship."

"You mean the SR2 right?" Jane asked. "Otherwise, I didn't know about it being my personal ship."

"I mean the SR2. That pilot of yours though, I only knew one UNSC pilot that was as good as him, and she's dead."

"Damn, would've wanted to meet her," John said as he walked up to them.

"Anyway, we're ready to launch whenever. The full crew for both ships are already aboard and waiting for launch orders," Dave said as he double checked his data pad.

"Including the GHOSTs?" Jane asked.

"Hold on…all but one. ONI Operator Kim…wait, her full name's Kimberly? Uh, anyway, Operator Dawson is the only GHOST not currently aboard the SR3."

"I'll get her," Angel called from the SR2's airlock.

She ran over to a shuttle before having the pilot fly her to Dawson's location.

"Isn't Kimberly going into a se-…"

"She'll kill you for calling her that just so you know," someone said from behind them.

The three soldiers turned to see Captain Victor Garret, temporary CO of the GHOSTs, standing there.

"Last guy that called her that literally lost his head, I'm being literal when I say she'll kill you. Not like how Jane just wanted to beat the living hell out of Luna when said S-III repainted the Normandy."

"She tore off the guy's head!?" Jane asked, utterly shocked.

"Yep, luckily it was an Innie so she didn't get arrested for it."

"Yeah well-…," John was interrupted by an explosion that shook the SR3.

"[Attention all hands, we are taking off immediately!]" The pilot shouted as the SR3 launched.

"Wait, what about Angel and Helix?" Jane asked.

"Shit, Joker, you in the SR2?" John asked.

"[Yeah, why?]" the pilot replied.

"You're launching for a quick rescue."

**Me: Well that's it for the last chapter of Mass Effect: GHOSTs.**

**Trin: So you'll be picking up right where this left off right?**

**Helix: Stupid question.**

**Me: Anyway, Reapers are finally here. Also, UNSC will not be engaging them very often. Never reveal your trump card till the end. VR Commando ATA out.**


End file.
